Belligerents

PORT ADELAIDE 
Year to date: LWWWWWWWLW
Last five at ground: WWWWW
Currently ranked: 1st

NORTH ADELAIDE
Year to date: WLWWLLLLWWLL
Last five at ground: WWWLL
Currently ranked: 6th

HEAD TO HEAD
Magpies 223 v 100 Roosters

LAST FIVE
Magpies 3 v 2 Roosters

PLAYBILL

SANFL IGA League – Multicultural Round (Round 13)
Port Adelaide v North Adelaide
Saturday 12 July
First bounce: 2:10pm
Academy: 11:25am
Hashtags: #portnorth
Broadcast: Life FM 107.9FM
Tickets: $14 general admission, $8 concession, children under 18 years free
BUY MAGPIES HOME MATCH SPECIAL OFFER MEMBERSHIP

TIME MACHINE

Round 8, 2014 The Magpies’ solid win over a plucky Roosters outfit was soured by injuries to ruckman Brent Renouf and defender Campbell Heath. John Butcher booted five goals up forward while Paul Stewart and Tom Logan put in solid efforts running out of half-back.

PORT ADELAIDE          2.4      6.7      8.14      12.17   (89)
NORTH ADELAIDE      1.3      3.6      5.8       9.9      (63)

portadelaidefc.com.au's best: Stewart, Logan, O’Shea, Summerton, Byrne-Jones
Goals: J. Butcher 5, Harvey 2, S. Gary, R. Young, Bruggemann, Logan, Neade
at Prospect Oval

FOUR POINTS

Summo’s 150th
The skipper of the Magpies is set to play his 150th game against the Roosters on Saturday. It’s been a long and illustrious career for the former A.R. McLean Medallist and multiple state game player. Having committed to lead the club’s League side for three years at the beginning of this season, Summerton has led by example on the field and carries the leadership of the team in the public eye off it. It’s a fantastic achievement for one of the club’s modern stalwarts and the 2:10pm game is a perfect opportunity to acknowledge a great contribution to the Magpies for over half a decade.

Hopes alive
North Adelaide pushed the Magpies the last time these two sides met, and will do so again with their season on the line. Two wins adrift of South and Norwood, which sit fourth and fifth on the ladder, and locked on points with West, the Roosters need to find a win out of the remaining six games. It’s not an easy run home for North against four of the current top five, so they’ll be hunting big scalps to keep their final hopes alive. Port Adelaide sits two games clear atop the ladder, but Sturt is undoubtedly the in-form team of the competition and plays all of the current bottom five in the next five weeks, so the Magpies need to keep winning to steer clear of the dangerous Unley side. Port is still searching for consistent four-quarter form, and will need to be at its best on Saturday.

Many happy returns
Three, potentially four players will be back in the Magpies line up this week. Paul Stewart and Andrew Moore are all but guaranteed to come back into the side where they’ll again work themselves back into form after suffering injuries against Melbourne in Alice Springs. Cam Hitchcock could also come back into the side if cleared to return from a shin problem, while Daniel Flynn will be free to play after serving his two-game rough conduct suspension. That’s plenty of reason to come and see the only Port Adelaide game in town on Saturday!

Defence rocks
The Magpies’ forward line performance has been a talking point for several weeks, but surely its defence deserves equal billing after a resilient effort against Sturt two weeks ago. Pressure down back and the ability to consistently clear the ball from the last line of defence was crucial in the second half of that game and is a testament to the defend-first mentality of the playing group. It’s good to see it in full effect as it will be required against some form sides for the rest of the year, including this weekend's game.