Rockliff is the PIG
Tom Rockliff was renowned as a ball winning genius when he arrived at Alberton fresh from a huge year at Brisbane in 2017. His 2018 season was poor after a dodgy pre-season and he never really got going. His 2019 pre-season showed he was leaner, fitter and more settled and it again came to the fore in round 1. The highest scoring AFL Fantasy player in the competition, Rocky grabbed 166 points after having 44 disposals, ten marks and eight tackles. It was the second-highest possession total in Port Adelaide’s history, behind only Peter Burgoyne’s 45 against North Melbourne in 2008. Rockliff’s grunt on the inside and willingness to spread on the outside was critical to the Power’s win over Melbourne.
The young boys can play
It was billed as a baptism of fire and a huge risk but playing premiership favourite Melbourne at the MCG on debut didn’t seem to bother Willem Drew, Connor Rozee, Zak Butters or Xavier Duursma. Drew had 21 disposals including ten contested to go with five marks, five tackles and three inside 50s – and he went at 81% disposal efficiency. Butters had two goals to go with his 13 touches, Rozee had 18 disposals, five marks and five tackles, while Duursma had 16 disposals at 87.5% efficiency, five marks and a goal.
Can history repeat
The last time Port Adelaide played Melbourne at the MCG in Round 1 was in 2013, in Ken Hinkley’s first game in charge of the Power. Against the odds after a shocking 2012 season, Hinkley’s men came out and stunned the Demons, winning by 79 points. That day Hinkley played six club debutants – as he did on Saturday. The Power would go on to make the finals, beat Collingwood in an Elimination Final at the G’ and go down fighting in a Semi-Final to Geelong. With similar low external expectations of the Power in 2019, anything is possible.
Justin Westhoff is incredible
Humble, quiet and the oldest player on Port Adelaide’s list yet he keeps delivering. Justin Westhoff booted five goals after 18 disposals, five tackles and nine marks. At 32, and having won his first club best and fairest award in 2018, he could be excused for having a quiet start to the season, but while being quiet is in his nature, not performing is not. The big man finished 2018 with five goals against the Bombers and stepped up in Charlie Dixon’s absence in the forward line to do it again. Yet he also took a number of intercept marks inside 50, displaying his importance to the Power set-up.
Max Gawn can be beaten
Gawn averaged 45 hit-outs a game last season in the best year of his career, but the Power made sure he wouldn't open his 2019 campaign in the same fashion. It was a vital factor in Port's upset 26-point win. Opposing ruckmen Paddy Ryder, in a helmet to protect his fractured cheekbone, and new recruit Scott Lycett, his first time at the ground since last year's premiership win for West Coast, worked over Gawn in spurts. But it wasn't just a two-man job. Many Power players bumped, bullied, nudged and annoyed Gawn as often as they could. He was flattened behind play on one occasion, and then, later in the second term, when Ryder rushed ahead of Gawn and created a Port goal, the Power were quick to let Gawn know of his error. Even the Power's batch of new faces, including top-five pick Connor Rozee and Zak Butters, were in the big man’s face walking off the ground at half time.
