PORT ADELAIDE won back to back games and held on to top spot on the AFL ladder after a nail-biting after the siren win over Carlton on Sunday afternoon.

It was a long day, starting with 4:30am alarms going off, a flight to Brisbane, the game, and then returning home to Adelaide around 8:30pm, but coming home with the points made it worth it.

Here are some key things we learned from the three-point victory.

1) Making amends after the siren.

Port Adelaide led at three quarter time by a solitary goal but it was the Blues who held a seven point lead in the 17^th minute of the final quarter. Port would go on to kick four straight behinds, through Dan Houston, Charlie Dixon, Robbie Gray, and Todd Marshall before club debutant Sam Mayes hit a precision pass to Gray inside 50 and then the siren went. The three-time club best and fairest was composed under immense pressure and nailed the set shot from a difficult spot on the ground to win it after the siren and make amends for the earlier misses. 

It was a nice change for Port, which has now been involved in three of the past four games decided after the siren and lost the other two, both to West Coast.

And it’s not the first time Carlton has been on the wrong side of an after the siren winner from Port Adelaide. 20 years ago, almost to the day (30^th of July, 2000) in Round 21, 2000, Peter Burgoyne marked directly in front in the dying seconds with his side trailing by a point to kick the winner after the siren and help Port claim a five-point win. His contact with the ball was nowhere near as clean as Gray’s on Sunday but the result was the same.

2) Carlton streak.

Port Adelaide has now won four games in a row against Carlton with its last loss coming in Round 8, 2016 and that was another nail biter with the Port going down by two points. But the four-game streak is not the best either side has enjoyed.

Port won five games in a row against the Blues between Round 4, 2002 and Round 15, 2004 and went unbeaten in eight games in all because the sides drew in the next encounter before Port won the following two. That made it six years between victories for Carlton. For what it’s worth, the Blues also won five in a row against Port between Round 11, 2008 and Round 11, 2011.

3) Ladhams can play.

With Scott Lycett playing a lone role in the ruck this year, Peter Ladhams has been forced to wait for his opportunity to add to his five AFL games, all of which he recorded in 2019. The 22-year-old managed three games in a row last season but had not played at AFL level since Round 22.

With Lycett’s knee injury, Ladhams was finally given his chance. And, he was among his side’s best against Carlton, not only for his ruck work but also for his ability to rack up disposals and win clearances. Coach Ken Hinkley said Ladhams was like having another midfielder out there and that his ability at ground level was one of his weapons. The big man finished with the most disposals on the ground with 21 (equal with Patrick Cripps) but he also had 16 hit-outs and four clearances. If Lycett is unable to return against St Kilda this week, Ladhams has shown he is more than able. His 12 handballs on Sunday was a career best and his average of 15.7 disposals rates him as elite amongst ruckmen in the competition.

4) Dixon is a man mountain.

At 200cm and around 107 kilograms, there’s no doubt Charlie Dixon strikes fear into even the biggest and best backmen. On Sunday, you could only feel for Carlton’s Liam Jones who was only one centimetre but a whole ten kilograms lighter. When Dixon is on, he is almost unstoppable, and on Sunday he was on, so much so that veteran journalist Mark Robinson compared Dixon to Barry Hall in the height of his career.

Dixon booted 3.4, and coach Ken Hinkley said he could have had five or six goals had he kicked straight. Dixon had a game-high 10 score involvements, eight shots on goal and took seven marks inside 50m, which no player has accomplished this season.

The big fella is back on top in the race for the Coleman Medal with 15 goals from six games, equal with Sydney’s Tom Papley, who has played one more game. But most impressive is that Dixon missed Round 1 and went goalless against Brisbane in Round 5.

5) Port has depth.

Brad Ebert, Cam Sutcliffe and Scott Lycett went out of the side that beat Greater Western Sydney because of suspension and injury but up stepped Xavier Duursma, Peter Ladhams and club debutant Sam Mayes. All were important on Sunday, especially Ladhams’ in the middle and Mayes down back. The former Brisbane player, who was very familiar with the Gabba, played a key role in the match-wining goal by hitting Robbie Gray on the lead in the dying seconds.

With Ryan Burton suffering a quad injury and Steven Motlop hurting his ankle, there is every chance that depth will be tested again but coach Ken Hinkley is confident he has the numbers to cover them should they be sidelined. In his own words: “I think there’s some depth underneath and we’ve been tested, like everyone’s going to be at this time of year, but I think we’ve still got some players yet to be seen.”