by Booney » Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:44 am
The Sydney Swans came to Adelaide Oval with impressive wins over Melbourne and Richmond under their belts and had 1000 goal super star Lance Franklin returning to the line up from suspension. Form and personnel suggested the 7th placed Swans would be too good for Port Adelaide and despite two early injuries Port Adelaide went on to upset the Swans by 23 points in front of 30,000 on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Once again the Power was out early. Reid, Franklin and Heeney (4 goals) started the game strongly and Sydney had the first 3 majors on the board before Zak Butters swooped and goaled to get Port going and did they get going. In the next 10 minutes Marshall would kick the first 2 of his 4 for the game and Connor Rozee kicked truly on the run as Port went into the first break 8 points for the good. It was the early work of debutant Brynn (Tes) Teakle getting his hands on some ruck contests in a promising yet disappointing debut and Ollie Wines that got Port going, despite the small lead Sydney were playing as Sydney like to do, Port had been efficient in front of goal but the game was mostly played on the Swans terms.
At the start of the second term the Swans had the first through Hayward, Marshall soon had his third and Heeney showed his class with the left foot snap on the run, the game was being played at a high level despite both sides upping the pressure and in the middle of the second term things evened out and the contest was now on. Nobody loves a contest more than skipper Tom Jonas, with young Swan Will Hayward streaming into an open goal after marking unattended the skipper threw himself into a tackle to dislodge the ball and rush a behind, it was about now I thought we had a chance. The Swans wasted some chances, 2.7 for the term to 2.3 and Port hold a narrow 4 point half time lead.
On a stunning winters afternoon the Magarey Room bars felt like pre-pandemic packed and the chat was around “Can we keep this up?”, can we what! In the first minute of the second half Dixon goaled from the line, Marshall nailed his 4th just as former Port ruckman Pete Ladhams entered the game for all the wrong reasons. He wrestled Jones to the ground resulting in a Powell-Pepper gift before losing the plot a bit with a gut punch to Wines resulting in a Dixon gift, with Burton and Bonner joining in Port had piled on 6 goals from 13 I50 entries before Sydney had gone inside their front 50.
It was 16 minutes of breathtaking football from Port and breathtaking stupidity from Ladhams. At the other end Aliir had Franklin under control, Byrne-Jones was on top of Papley and Reid had been pushed far and wide to have little effect, Sydney couldn’t get out of their back half and Port had it’s zone set on the back of some intense pressure. 18 tackles inside 50 (7 in the third ¼) making Sydney’s exit almost impossible and allowing the zone to lock down. From 17 points down early to a game high 42 points in front the game was over at ¾ time as Port held sway by 34 points.
With Butters ( knee ) and Teakle ( collar bone ) out of the contest Port was down a rotation, medi sub Xavier Duursma had come into the game before half time and he had some impact on the contest after struggling to break into the side and in the last 30 minutes Port ran out of legs in attack, the defensive pressure was still there but a goalless last quarter to the Swans 2 goals meant Port held on by 23 points.
3 numbers to highlight.
Port win the tackle count by 21 ( 72 to 51 ), we had 18 tackles inside 50 and scored 57 points from turnovers. Pressure. Pressure. Pressure.
Boon’s best – Wines, Marshall, Rozee, Bonner, Burton, Ladhams
PAFC. Forever.
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