WHAT is it like to play Port Adelaide today?
If St Kilda coach Brett Ratten's reaction - moments after the 54-point loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on ANZAC Day - is the guide, it is tough. Also frustrating. And a touch annoying.
Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. To many of the 33,125 at Adelaide Oval on Sunday evening, Port Adelaide played like a team that is very much living up to its desire to be well connected and in control on the football field.
For the second consecutive week, this time with no extra pain to the injury list at Alberton, Port Adelaide has completely dictated the flow of a match. First, Carlton at the MCG; now 2020 AFL top-eight finalist St Kilda with a nice dose of payback for the loss endured at Adelaide Oval last season during the shortened home-and-away campaign.
When Port Adelaide sets the agenda - and controls the ball - the lack of momentum and any repetitive sequence of goals from the opposition makes the match run to one theme: The Port Adelaide way.
Port Adelaide's critical advantage in this night match was control of centre clearances, by 10 (16-6).
"Ken (Hinkley) has a saying about that statistic," said Port Adelaide midfielder and Peter Badcoe VC Medal winner Ollie Wines who won six of those 16 centre clearances. "If we win centre bounce, we usually win the game."
And Wines and his fellow midfielders do allow their teammates to set the agenda with this centre-square advantage. Port Adelaide again - as noted by Ratten's post-match review - agitated its opponent by taking first use and control of the ball, as suggested by the +142 advantage (314-172) in uncontested ball possession.
Port Adelaide went into cruise control; St Kilda struggled to find the clutch.
"A calm and composed game of football," said Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley. His gameplan was based on keeping the ball to "take some heat away" in a match that had been set up to favour St Kilda's wish to hunt the Sherrin on the ground.
The past fortnight has delivered a stark contrast to how Port Adelaide had no say in the tone of the match against West Coast in Perth. Wines and his fellow midfielders were dictated terms in that encounter and took on the lesson.
"After that game (against West Coast) we were puzzled ... and put an enormous amount of work over the past two weeks to upping our analysis of the opponents and skill improvement in that area at training," said Wines. "Centre bounce ... it is such a crucial statistic to win these days. It has been a big emphasis for us. It is about fighting as much as you can in there."
Port Adelaide introduced another "find" from the rookie list with 20-year-old half-back Marty Frederick. His first touch - an intercept mark followed by a handpass - set off a goalscoring chain completed by Connor Rozee. His first set of numbers - 23 disposals with eight intercept possessions - were completed with 96 per cent efficiency.
The South Sudanese convert to Australian football looked very much in the right place in the AFL. Those white boots seem to glide over the field.
"We develop our players really well," notes Hinkley of the smooth transition of a novice such as Frederick from SANFL to AFL. "And they come into a good environment to play well."
A man who has been part of that environment for 15 seasons now once again made the play of the night. In the 10th minute of the last term, while so many mishandled the hot ball in Port Adelaide's defence, Robbie Gray took command. His pristine take and delivery to Todd Marshall was finished by Travis Boak and the goalscoring kick of Rozee on a night when Port Adelaide seemed a class above St Kilda.
At 5-1, Port Adelaide also seems a top-four contender again. The next test is Brisbane in Brisbane, a match that last season reminded Wines and his Port Adelaide midfield just how important winning centre bounce can be.
