Selection dilemma for Port Adelaide
Power coach Mark Williams says he'll have a number of players pushing for selection in next week's Showdown
The Power finished the game with several sore bodies, including Justin Westhoff (slight concussion), Dean Brogan (corked thigh) and Robbie Gray (corked knee), but none are considered to be in any doubt for next week.
Defender Troy Chaplin, who was best on ground in his last game against the Brisbane Lions, will return to the side after serving a two-match-ban for rough conduct.
Matt Thomas (knee) and Hamish Hartlett (hamstring) are expected to be available and Josh Carr and Peter Burgoyne will also be looking for a recall after spending the weekend in the SANFL.
Port Adelaide led by 64 points in Sunday’s clash with West Coast at AAMI Stadium, but conceded five goals-to-two in the final term to record just a six-goal win.
Williams said he was delighted with his side’s performance despite the final-quarter fade-out.
“The club was under a lot of pressure this week, so it was fantastic to win today,” Williams said after the game.
“If we win all the [remaining] games the percentage [we lost in the final quarter] won’t worry us at all. In the end, if we’d won by a point I couldn’t care. For our club, it was important to stay in the finals mix.
“At the end of the year, there might be some discussion about whether the last two or three goals cost us something [in terms of percentage], but it [our finals fate] is in our hands and that’s the best thing.”
Williams was full of praise for six-gamer and former Geelong-listed midfielder Jason Davenport.
Davenport, 23, helped orchestrate the Power’s convincing win with 12 possessions, five tackles and two goals in a brilliant first term.
The former Geelong VFL best and fairest winner finished with 26 disposals, six inside 50s, four clearances, two goals and nine tackles.
“It was Jason’s best game for the club. I think most of the stuff with Jason is that he doesn’t really believe in himself, so for him to get little glimpses of this to say, ‘wait a minute, maybe, I can lift the bar and I can actually do this stuff’ is great for him,” Williams said.
“I thought he tackled brilliantly as well and put a lot of pressure on. He joked with me after the game, because his best mate is Gary Ablett, he said ‘[West Coast tagger] Adam Selwood came to me, I’ll be able to tell Gaz that’.”
Williams labelled draftee Matthew Broadbent’s two-goal debut as a ‘fairytale’ and praised skipper Dom Cassisi’s inspirational performance.
The premiership coach was also impressed with his side’s one-off predominantly black strip.
The more traditional-looking football guernsey, which was designed by a seven-year-old competition winner, proved a hit with everyone at Alberton.
“If you polled the players, they’d wear it every week. They love it. Port Adelaide back in black is something that sits nicely with the club. This one looks like Port Adelaide. It looks tough and hard to beat,” Williams said.
“In the first quarter I was wondering what was going on because we only saw them for 20 minutes during the week. But after a very short time it was fine.”