Melbourne vs Port Adelaide

Pickett put in a career-best showing, which helped spark the Demons into life throughout a see-sawing contest with Port Adelaide - and ultimately to a much- ...

Simon Goodwin, who had never coached a game without Oliver at his disposal, was forced to tinker with the Dees midfield in order to fill the sizeable hole left by the leading ball-winner in the competition. Their added mobility has made them a major asset for the Power throughout their resurgence, acting as effectively extra midfielders at the coalface and it was those traits which came to the fore against the Dees’ imposing ruck duo. It’s been a long time between drinks since Melbourne last fielded a side without the services of its superstar midfielder Clayton Oliver, who missed his first game in almost six years. Charlie Dixon and Jeremy Finlayson are the tandem pair who continue to make lemonade from very few lemons. Kysaiah Pickett played his own game of ‘whatever you can do, I can do better’ on Sunday afternoon, but instead of challenging a team-mate or opposition player, it seemed as if he was essentially playing against himself. The first three of Pickett’s career-best six goals are almost certain to feature on his ‘best of’ highlight reels for many years to come - which continued to meet the criteria of spectacular with each passing goal.

TIO Traeger Park will play host to Sunday's Round 18 AFL game between Melbourne Demons and Port Adelaide Power. The game kicks off at 3:20 pm with Melbourne ...

Port Adelaide have been one of the best backed sides all weekend. Port Adelaide Power game and give you our free tips and bets. Melbourne Demons vs Port Adelaide Power Preview

Port Adelaide pushed AFL premier Melbourne for most - but not enough - of the rematch in Alice Springs. But another wild weekend leaves the path to ...

It had more disposals than Melbourne, 407-350 (highlighting the want to keep the ball from the Melbourne players). It even won that well-known barometer of contested possession, only just 125-124 - and had more inside-50s (55-49). But playbooks, high stakes in a game that would shape the race to September's finals and lessons from an earlier encounter at the skinnier Adelaide Oval weighed heavily on this match. Four times in the first 10 minutes the Melbourne defence led by Steven May, who commands the league's No. 1 unit for intercept marks, chopped off Port Adelaide's carefully constructed passages through the midfield. He needed those around him to join the scoring rush. Not even the break stymied Melbourne's push to victory with the momentum swing also delivering the first four goals of the last term that set up a match-high lead of 31 points . It simply did not do it for long enough - and probably without enough dare to make Melbourne feel vulnerable to falling to its fifth loss in the past seven weeks. Melbourne, as has been a trend in recent weeks, struggled to load up its key forwards such as Ben Brown until late in the third term. He finished with two goals. At the end, the numbers were mocked by the scoreboard. At times, Port Adelaide measured up against the AFL premier. In many ways it was too methodical and not enterprising enough. The end result from such disappearing acts, however, is the same.