PAFC 2026

[Booney]

Pick 58 I reckon now.

[Booney]

That one hurt.

Arguably the greatest rivalry in AFL football delivered again on Friday night as a goal to each side inside the last 90 seconds had 51,000 in the stadium and thousands more at home riding an emotional rollercoaster, one which in the end only Adelaide fans were happy to be aboard as Brayden Cook slotted the match winner with the final kick of the night, Adelaide home by a solitary point.

The match opened with Adelaide out of the blocks to no avail though as they butchered gettable chances on goal as Thilthorpe missed two shots you’d expect him to slot. In contrast Port made the most of every opportunity, Georgiades slotted the opener from an angle, Wines added another before Pedlar launched one from range. Adelaide had control of the ball and territory but it was Port who were transitioning from end to end with far more ease with the difference being 70% disposal efficiency in defence highlighting what Matthew Nicks would have added at quarter time the pressure lacking from Adelaides front half. That soon changed.

For the next hour the contest became particularly dour, Port couldn’t transition out of defence and Adelaide couldn’t make the most of the stranglehold they had over us. While I do much of this from recall I do look at some stats and one stat, particularly in the second term displayed why Adelaide ultimately won the game. In the second quarter Port transitioned from defence 24 times, 19 of them were intercepted. That compounds many problems. The forwards spend time higher up the ground seeking avenues from goal creating congestion in the opposition forward 50 and in the end making it difficult for both sides to score. 2 goals to 1 in the second quarter and in a sign of things to come Ports solitary goal to Zak Butters on the back of some poor umpiring. An excellent finish from the star but a very questionable call.

The third term opened up as both sides found some rhythm, Adelaide in particular took control in the midfield where Berry and Rankine started to influence the contest and Peatling doing the lock down on Butters took the opportunity to chase some of the ball himself. Defensively Port slackened off, no other way to put it. Murray led Marshall a merry dance to nail two in two minutes, Marshall lacking the accountability a key back should show and he paid the price, so did Port. 5.5 to 3.3 in that term and Adelaide had more clearances, more contested possession, more tackles and more inside 50’s and the game should have been put to bed. Whilst only an 8 point lead it felt like Adelaide had the game on their terms.

They most certainly did when Keays, who I find particularly easy to dislike, then Thilthorpe goaled to make it 7 of the last 10 to Adelaide and the margin was 20 points. Then something shifted, Port took the game on again and risked losing it to win it, Georgiades, Berry then the impressive Whitlock ( Whitlock took a clunking pack mark outside 50, delivered it to Berry in the pocket then worked forward to take another contested mark on the edge of the square to goal, cannot talk enough about how I rate this kid ) brought the margin under a goal on the back of one man who had controlled the Adelaide forward line, Aliir Aliir. He had controlled the air space for much of the night in Port’s back half and in the last quarter taking 4 intercept marks. He was out standing.

I can tell you who wasn’t outstanding, the umpires, in particular the goal denied to my best on ground, Wayne Milera, that would have iced the game for Adelaide. It was an appalling decision to pay a push on the goal line against Josh Rachele, look, my disdain for Adelaide cannot be over stated but as a football fan you know what’s right and wrong and that call was just wrong. The first step to change is admitting you have a problem and there’s some serendipity in the fact Andrew Dillon and Greg Swann were on deck to witness the farce that unfolded on Friday night from the 4 officiating and the ARC. If you can tell me with a straight face the over turning of the goal to Adelaide was on the back of vision that was definitive I’m never playing cards against you.

The drama hadn’t finished yet.

When Joe Berry lent into his left foot to snap a major and put Port 5 points in front with 30 minutes gone anyone who though the game was over must have been mad. With 1 minute to play Adelaide gained possession from a free to Rankine, a scrambled kicked forward, that man again, Milera dishes wide and much to my disgust as I sat right behind Cook he inside outded one from just inside 50 to steal it at the death, Adelaide home by a point. Urrgh.

Late last year Port played Hawthorn, Geelong and Adelaide in consecutive weeks. Those three losses were by 38, 98 and 88 points. This year we’re lost to Hawthorn by 3, beaten Geelong by 30 and lost to Adelaide by 1. It hurts, my word it hurts but the year wasted in 2025 is going to become a distant memory fast if this group keeps making sides earn the points over us and that’s all we can ask.

Boon’s best – Aliir, Horne-Francis, Georgiades, Wines, Butters, Bergman

[bertiebeatle1]

Thought we were pretty poor on Fri night to be honest. If you told me at the start of the game we would be only +3 clearance & -20 I50, i'd say we would have got a touch up (might also tell where the Crows are at currently).

Mids very fumbly & we coughed up a lot of easy TO's (both sides did) & i thought we were just avg around the contest which in my view cost us the game.
Also can't be too harsh on the mids as they are the ones that we are having to rely on week in week out at the moment.

Thought Nicks coached well in how he was able to stifle our ball movement & Fri night showed we missed the Luko type as the link up fwd desperately.

Our defensive structure is as good as I have ever seen & considering the lack of height we have down there, it is quite refreshing to be able to trust our structure to a degree.

Be nice if we were able to jag this week's game.