FOLLOWING a 46 point loss to Hawthorn at AAMI Stadium on Sunday night, Port Adelaide must now regroup and focus on one last hurdle before its mid-season break - a Western Bulldogs outfit with the same hunger for a win.
End Game
The Power never headed the Hawks in its twilight game at AAMI Stadium and was convincingly beaten on home turf. The game served to highlight the gap between Port Adelaide and the best sides in the competition as players continue to adjust and learn from premiership favourites. Hawthorn’s spread from stoppages and clearance work proved critical for its early game lead and Port Adelaide could only manage one goal in each of the second and third terms. Not for want of trying, Port’s inability to finish its forward entries proved costly on the night and the margin could have easily been less had marks held and set kicks taken advantage of.
The Scoreboard
Port Adelaide 9.8 (62) def by
Hawthorn 16.12 (108)
Best: Brad Ebert, Broadbent, Cornes, Moore, Surjan, Carlile
Goals: Schulz 3, P. Stewart 2, Hitchcock, Wingard, Moore, Westhoff.
Match Report
Leader board
Disposals leader: Kane Cornes (29)
Marks leader: Kane Cornes (10)
Tackles leader: Brad Ebert (10)
Clearances leader: Brent Renouf (6)
Hitouts leader: Brent Renouf (39)
Scores leader: Jay Schulz (19 points)
Dreamteam leader: Kane Cornes (125)
Headlines
They were at us: Primus
PTV: Brad Gotch Post-Game
Hawks End Power surge
Quarter-by-quarter
In his own words - Matthew Primus
“I thought they [Hawthorn] just outclassed us. They certainly brought a lot of pressure which we knew they’d bring and it’s something they don’t get respect for they certainly come at you and bring a lot of heat to the ball carrier.”
“We weren’t clean by hand or foot and even though we were at them they were able to sustain and handle our pressure and they were really classy.
“I thought the class factor was just a level above us and we’ll learn some lessons from a very, very good team.
“We didn’t take our chances in the second quarter- we had shots on goals - and in the third quarter it was toe-to-toe a little bit and the floodgates opened in the last quarter but I thought our guys fought it out pretty well.
“There’s a gap between [Port Adelaide and] where Hawthorn are. I think Hawthorn are one of the top teams in the competition - we want to get there quickly and I think we showed patches today - we were able to match them - but being able to sustain not only the pressure, but sustain movement of the ball, we weren’t able to do that as well.”
Watch the Primus post-match conference in full
What was learned
Port Adelaide is a side which remains a fair way from being able to truly head and beat the top sides of the AFL competition and this is a point that Matthew Primus reflected on in his post-match press conference. The loss however served a function to highlight what Port Adelaide does well and what it needs to fix if it is to challenge regularly and win consistently in the coming months and years. Its forward line pressure demonstrated against Carlton last weekend lacked against Hawthorn and its inability to lock the ball in attacking 50 was exploited by the fast transition of the Hawks. The Power’s defence held up well however, with line coach Brad Gotch praising the efforts of Jacob Surjan to keep goal sneak Cyril Rioli off the scoreboard as well as Alipate Carlile’s effort to hold super forward Lance Franklin to just 4.4 (well down on his 13 goal performance the preceding week). Port’s skill with the ball was down on previous weeks and top four, potentially top two sides like Hawthorn will punish unclean ball use. Importantly, the Power was able to hold steady in the final term and didn’t allow the Hawks to increase their three quarter time lead - significant in demonstrating how far the development of the Power has come in the last ten months.
The future
Next Sunday afternoon’s match against the Western Bulldogs is a must-win match for both teams. The Dogs will recognise their only premiership captain/coach, the late Charlie Sutton, at the game and will be impassioned to take away the four points. Equally, the Power are capable of finishing the first act of 2012 with a 5-7 record if they take away honours at Etihad, so the importance of this game is high for both teams. It also sets the team up for an important early run against Geelong, Adelaide (in a home Showdown) and Essendon.
Injury list
Matt Thomas was replaced pre-match by Cameron Hitchcock after being ruled out with a corked thigh.
The Black and White
After bowing out of the Foxtel Cup and following from its mid-season review, Port Adelaide came out firing against South Adelaide. The Magpies were impressive from the get-go - smashing the Panthers by 6-1 in the opening quarter and increasing its lead across consecutive quarters. Captain James Meiklejohn was best on ground for the Magpies and was ably supported by emerging talent Sam Gray and club champion Jeremy Clayton. The win puts the Magpies sixth on the ladder and just two wins out of the top five.
Coming Up
Sunday 17 June, 4.40pm (local time)
Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs
Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
Saturday 16 June, 2.10pm
Port Adelaide v Central District
Playford Alive, Elizabeth
