If Tom Jonas isn't in the All-Australian team, well I don't know football.

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley on his captain and leader in defence.

AT least the AFL umpires are at games to see exactly how they unfold to maintain the integrity of the game's major individual award, the Brownlow Medal.

Many other league honours will be assessed with judges and selectors denied the bird's eye view from the prestige lounges and commentary booths at stadia. This season, the "unprecedented one", has the game on the rectangular screen for most. This includes the All-Australian selectors, who recently have become slaves to statistics for ranking players. They will be more and more reliant on figures.

At least Warren Tredrea was at Adelaide Oval on Saturday to see the big picture on one of his successors as Port Adelaide captain, Tom Jonas. The statistics from a game that had more zonal defence than one-on-one match-ups between defenders and forwards are meaningless. And they rarely do justice to defenders.

For those asking: Jonas - 12 disposals, six contested possessions, four intercepts, 100 per cent disposal efficiency, six marks (one notable contested mark), 109 metres gained, four score involvements .... The All-Australian selectors can dial up the numbers.

But the game notes on how Jonas competed in big moments should be before every one of Tredrea's colleagues on the All-Australian selection panel. More so when this Port Adelaide-Hawthorn game was decided on moments. Big moments.

First term, 19th minute: Jonas made a significant spoil on Hawthorn forward Tim O'Brien after a near-perfect supply kick from afar by former Port Adelaide player Jarman Impey. This play ended with Brad Ebert scoring Port Adelaide's first goal - and a potential 23-point deficit was cut to 11 in a 12-point play.

First term, 22nd minute: Jonas ensured every Port Adelaide fan could exhale after he denied another former Port Adelaide player, Shaun Burgoyne, a mark with a timely and clean spoil on the western centre wing by the boundary. "Silk" Burgoyne in space and with an open goal would have been a dagger.

Second term, 11th minute: Another perfectly timed aerial challenge on Burgoyne at the top of the 50-metre arc at the southern end with Jonas running under the flight of the ball. Another critical save.

Last term, 10th minute: Jonas - in one of those flashback moments from a clash West Coast a few years ago - was at the right place at the right time this time. His spoil from the back of a pack defused a long kick to the Hawthorn goalfront from outside 50. A set shot from any Hawthorn player at this stage could have turned the match into a mess for Port Adelaide.

"It's not my job (to pick the All-Australian team)," said Hinkley after the 10-point win against Hawthorn, "but if they want to push Tom Jonas up for selection, I wouldn't stop them."

Port Adelaide claimed the four premiership points to remain the league leader. But there will be much angst about how this game unfolded to become a tough assignment for Port Adelaide - much tougher than many fans wanted and many pundits expected. This is the price of expectation Port Adelaide has to carry as a competition leader - and would-be pacesetter.

But, for the purists, there are some other gems in the rough of this round 13 encounter. Such as the opening minute of the third term when second-year forward-midfielder Zak Butters ran onto Chad Wingard. The kid blocked the scoring opportunity being carefully measured at the northern goal by the Port Adelaide club champion traded to Hawthorn in 2018 to create the draft cache that brought Butters, Connor Rozee and Xavier Duursma to Alberton.

If only Dennis Cometti was in the commentary box to tell us what the librarian was thinking!

Little things that make a big difference in a game ... like the ones that become big pointers for the All-Australian selectors with Tom Jonas.

ROUND 13

Port Adelaide 9.14 (68) d Hawthorn 9.4 (58)

KNOW your opponent.

It is one of those adages that never loses relevance, no matter how much the game of Australian football evolves with tactical twists from era to era.

In the 19th minute of the last term at Adelaide Oval, with just four points on Port Adelaide's lead, Hawthorn tried one of its trademark tactics to help novice defender Changkouth Jiath clear the ball from the north-west pocket, on the boundary line where the 50-meter arc begins (or ends).

Irish recruit Conor Glass repeated Hawthorn's well-rehearsed trick of standing on the mark alongside the Port Adelaide player on guard. In this case, it was Robbie Gray ... know your opponent.

Gray not only out-manoeuvred Glass, the Port Adelaide forward-midfielder perfectly anticipated Jiath's intent to play-on. The tackle led to a holding-the-ball free kick; Gray's kick to the goalfront at the northern end created the stoppage from which Port Adelaide lead ruckman Scott Lycett out-pointed his stern rival Ben McEvoy ... and second-year sensation Zak Butters charged through a gap Moses would have been proud to navigate. The resulting goal put the game at 10 points in Port Adelaide's favour with two minutes to play.

Game over. "A big battle, a tough battle," said Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley, very much knowing Hawthorn, the opponent that in the past two years has sunk his team's top-eight ambitions with fiesty wins in Launceston.

Port Adelaide again has responded with victory after defeat. It is 10-3 - with four games to play in this year's truncated home-and-away series - and continues the streak of leading the AFL competition from the start in mid-March.

The responses against Greater Western Sydney (after the round 5 loss to Brisbane) and against Melbourne (after the round 8 defeat at home against St Kilda) were reassuring. This 10-point win against an also-ran Hawthorn will not deliver the same enthusiasm.

"We are not playing our best footy," admitted Hinkley. But his players found a way to win.

The Geelong defeat exposed Port Adelaide again in the contests - and heavily in defence. It also was concerning for leaving the image that Port Adelaide can be bullied out of a game.

Against Hawthorn - in a week when the team was rattled by former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon describing the once "unsocialable Hawks" as being unrecognisable for their social graces on the field against West Coast a week earlier - Port Adelaide held its ground when poked. Key forward Charlie Dixon lost his collectable indigenous jumper in that second-quarter stoush under the old scoreboard, but Port Adelaide made sure no-one was again questioning if it still has a spine.

 

By the numbers, Port Adelaide answered the questions posed by Geelong about how blue collar the midfield unit is at stoppages. It won the clearance count 35-25. And there was intense heat at centre-circle contests where Hawthorn had the advantage with McEvoy winning the hit-outs 15-2 - but the Port Adelaide engine clearing the deck 10-7. Again, former captain Travis Boak appears loaded with infinite energy to endure across long challenges in the midfield - and everywhere else he runs to play a role.

All up, Port Adelaide won the contested ball 131-112. So the numbers are pleasing ...

From looking horribly trapped in its defensive 50 in the first 18 minutes of the first term, Port Adelaide turned the tables on Hawthorn with a dominant last term as measured by the 14-6 command of inside-50s.

And that issue of Port Adelaide's poor goalkicking conversion drags on - this time with 9.14, including a run of seven consecutive behinds from the third to last terms (when 7.6 became 7.13). Port Adelaide has scored 13.15, 4.7 and 9.14 (for a total of 26.36 with 42 per cent conversion) in the past three games.

"Kenny would be sitting there," said Hawthorn premiership coach Alastair Clarkson, "with a sigh of relief ... that was a risky one for them."

Clarkson clearly knows his opponent at Alberton.

QUOTE OF THE GAME

"We've had a challenging week - and we continued that challenge with 9.14 ... we have ourselves an a opportunity to potentially lose the game. We are not playing our best footy, that is clear and obvious to everyone. But we are finding a way to get through."

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley

TAKE IT TO THE BANK 

(five things we learned this week)

1) ONE-WAY TRAFFIC. In a game that rewarded Port Adelaide key forward Charlie Dixon with a holding free kick after he had been manhandled in a marking contest at the southern end, came this unusual note: No free kick to Hawthorn in the second half. The last time a team went without the umpires offering them a free kick during a half of football was round 23, 2015: St Kilda (in a 95-point belting from West Coast in that old room of affirmation at Subiaco in Perth). The hashtag #freekickhawthorn is no longer trending.

2) HOME, SWEET HOME. It is becoming more complicated to forecast and plan the AFL fixture, but the league executives are this week expected to declare how the top-eight finals series is to unfold - and which state among four contenders takes the AFL grand final from the MCG on Saturday, October 17or 24. "It will be (this) week ... we've been pretty consistent; we're aiming for (a decision by) the end of August," AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Friday. Any decision that consolidates the finals series in a Queensland hub system would make life easier for the AFL - but it would seem unjust to Port Adelaide and its right to host any home finals it has earned at Adelaide Oval.

3) STIR CRAZY TIMES. Hub life - and restrictions to a way of life many had taken for granted - always was going to test the patience of many in Australian football. But the past week did bring into question who was stirring most? Outspoken Brisbane player Mitch Robinson or Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick? It certainly is not dull in AFL circles today.

4) EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES. The list of AFL coaches and players who have tripped up on the COVID protocols reaffirms no-one is perfect. Port Adelaide has needed to deal with three players - vice-captain Ollie Wines, ruckman Peter Ladhams and defender-midfielder Dan Houston - facing up to two COVID breaches that have brought a heavy personal cost and will hit hard on football department spending next season. As one philosopher wrote, "Once is a mistake. Twice is a pattern. Three times is a habit." And no-one will be forgiving on a third strike. 

5) SOCIAL AGENDA. Some football fans would prefer the game to be just about wins and losses. But Australian football - with its superb way of not discriminating to allow players of many shapes and sizes and different speeds and skills to succeed in an incredibly demanding sport - has a powerful part to play in making Australian society a better place for all. The survival of Sir Doug Nicholls round - previously indigenous round - as the only theme weekend on the AFL fixture highlights the game's commitment to a social agenda. So does this statement from the players from the AFL Players Association: "The players are disappointed that the Aboriginal flag won't be part of Sir Doug Nicholls round. They are proud to see the traditional owners of the land where each AFL ground sits acknowledged in the center circle. And encourage everyone to wear the colours of the flag to celebrate the contribution indigenous players make to our great game."

NEXT

Port Adelaide v Sydney

Adelaide Oval

Saturday, August 29. 1.15pm SA time

SYDNEY returns to Adelaide Oval for the first time since the season opener that was played in an empty arena - in March. This time, there will be 10,000 Port Adelaide fans who empty their lungs to leave the acoustic impression all 53,500 spots have been taken on the terraces.

On the field - where Port Adelaide in August last year scored its first Adelaide Oval win in AFL company against Sydney - there will be a different sound that will echo into the shell-like pavilions on the east, west and southern ends. It is the thump of contested football, the uncompromising trademark that has made Sydney a tough opponent that strives for one-on-one football and contested play.

Port Adelaide won by 47 points last year in the round 21 clash that lifted Ken Hinkley's crew to eighth spot and left Sydney in the bottom four.

On the injury front, Port Adelaide was clear on exit from Adelaide Oval on Saturday night - and will have selection pressure build with the prospect of half-back Ryan Burton (hip) and forward Todd Marshall (thumb) expected to come off the injury list.

ANNIVERSARY NOTE

From the Port Adelaide Football Club's 50th anniversary, 1920

A CENTURY ago, almost to the day, Port Adelaide (8-3) played North Adelaide (8-3 but with far superior percentage) in the home-and-away season closer at Adelaide Oval in round 14 to decide the SANFL minor premiership (a title Port Adelaide claimed in its centenary season in 1970 and is in line to do in the AFL in this 150th anniversary season).

North Adelaide won by 12 points to remain top after Port Adelaide made a bad start to trail by 29 points at half-time. The big finish did nothing to save the Port Adelaide selectors from intense and highly critical scrutiny for their late decision to recall three-premiership winner and 1919 captain Horrie Pope for his only match of the 1920 season.

Pope, a member of the 1910, 1913 and 1914 Champions of Australia-winning line-ups, took his career tally to an estimated 156 league matches (1905-1920).

A capable defender who rarely made mistakes, Pope was surprisingly never selected for state duty despite being a key part of a successful Port Adelaide defence. He certainly was not known for creating headlines. But his unexpected comeback match at age 33 changed that - dramatically.

PORT SELECTORS CRITICISED

FOR PLAYING A "HAS BEEN"

STRANGE ELEVENTH HOUR

SELECTION

The selection of the Port Adelaide team to meet North on the Adelaide Oval last Saturday was the subject of much criticism by the spectators who were unanimously of the opinion that a serious blunder had been made by the eleventh hour selection of Pope as goalkeeper. There was nothing to complain about so far as the rest of the players were concerned. Pope is, to use the words of the man behind the pickets, one of the "has been so".

Whatever were the selectors thinking about taking such a foolish step in this important match? To the crowd who follow the game the action was inexplicable. Was it any wonder the selectors fell in for such adverse criticism and condemnation. Pope's inclusion was the greatest surprise Port barrackers have experienced this season. It is doubtful whether the player himself really had desire to strip. By some of the selectors it was argued Pope was the only man suitable to fill the vacancy caused by the absence of Ford, the regular goalkeeper. Other reasons were that the old timer had filled the post last season and possessed experience and judgment. Such arguments were sheer bunkum. The fact that the man had not been in training should have been sufficient to cause the selectors to hesitate in putting him in.

What was the result? It was apparent in the early stages of the game that the experiment would be a failure. The unfortunate goalkeeper, who is to be more pitied than condemned, proved conclusively that he does not now possess the qualifications of a senior footballer. In fact, it was his mistakes which contributed mostly in the team's defeat. 

Who could have Ports have put in goal? That is a question which might be raised. It is easily answered. Was there no junior available? If not, what would have been wrong in putting Bampton there and taking in Weeden to fill the gap on the half-back line? This certainly would have been a better move. Weeden was included in the 20 chosen for the match, but he was dropped in preference to the untrained man. Port barrackers have every ground to be highly indignant at the selection committee's strange and unwarranted action.

Daily Herald, August 20, 1920

Hindsight is indeed a wonderful guide.

Port Adelaide's 1920 campaign ended in the next assignment with a 22-point defeat to Norwood in the semi-final at Adelaide Oval on September 11. 

Season 1921 had a more pleasant and memorable finish.