SO it begins. A minimum 23-week run of football action where Port Adelaide will fight its way across the country against the very best clubs this game has to offer, and it starts with Fremantle at Domain Stadium on Easter Sunday.
BELLIGERENTS
PORT ADELAIDE
LAST MATCH: Second Preliminary Final: Port Adelaide 13.16 (94) def by Hawthorn 15.7 (97)
FREMANTLE
LAST MATCH: First Semi Final: Fremantle 11.17 (83) def by Port Adelaide 15.15 (105)
HEAD TO HEAD
Port Adelaide 16 v 13 Fremantle
LAST FIVE
Port Adelaide 2 v 3 Fremantle
THIS YEAR
NAB Challenge: Port Adelaide 1 win, 2 losses v 2 wins, 1 loss Fremantle
PLAYBILL
Fremantle v Port Adelaide
Domain Stadium
Sunday 5 April
First bounce: 4:40pm (AWST)/6:10pm (ACST)/6:40pm (AEST)
Hashtags: #AFLFreoPower
Broadcast: Channel 7, FOX Footy, FIVEaa
BUY TICKETS
YOU’RE INVITED
Pre-Game Event
Bayswater Hotel
78-80 Railway Parade, Bayswater
1:00pm start, hosted by former AFL player/coach Ken Judge
All supporters welcome, followed by shared rail transit to Domain Stadium; free with game-access pass.
Post-Game Event
Subiaco Sports Bar - President's Lounge
Domain Stadium (south-western side)
Commences after the game
All supporters welcome
TIME MACHINE
Semi Final, 2014: Things looked dire for the Power at half time against Freo, even though the Power offered a little fight at the end of the second term. It took a huge second half with Robbie Gray kicking four goals and Ollie Wines and Chad Wingard three apiece to surge Port forward and into a thrilling win against the Purple Haze in Perth.
PORT ADELAIDE 2.2 3.5 9.9 15.15 (105)
FREMANTLE 3.5 6.11 8.13 11.17 (83)
Best: Hartlett, Wines, Wingard, R. Gray, Pittard, Westhoff
Goals: R. Gray, Wingard 4, Wines 3, Monfries, White, Polec, Schulz
at Domain Stadium
FOUR QUARTERS
THE EDGE
Without a proper game yet played, it's unfair to label the form players going into Sunday's game, but there are some obvious candidates.
Robbie Gray - probably the Power's best performer during the NAB Challenge, Gray is short odds to get attention from Freo on Sunday. Certainly the most enigmatic of the Power's midfield, his four goals against the home side in last year's semi final won't be forgotten just yet.
Nat Fyfe - tough to go past a Brownlow Medal favourite, the pick of the AFL players last year and a bloke lauded by the league's coaches. Fyfe will be a huge asset for Fremantle this weekend.
Both teams will be fresh going into this weekend's match, and a full-strength (but travelling) Port will come up against a very strong Fremantle side. The absence of Ryan Crowley will be welcome news for Travis Boak who has been well held in previous encounters by the expert Freo tagger, Matt de Boer. Dawson and Taberner are also out from the side that lost to the Power in last year's semi, while the Power have welcomed back Trengove, Wingard and Hartlett from injury.
THE THEATRE
The Purple Haze will be out in full force on Sunday night, so Port Adelaide's smattering of local support will be up against it from the get-go. The Power, on the other hand, come to a venue they know well, having played two of its last four games at the ground. Unfortunately, and in-form Docker line-up is always tough going at the 'House of Pain'.
For what it's worth, the record against Freo at Domain Stadium is all-square at seven apiece.
THE VIBE
Footy's back. Isn't it great?
