Port Adelaide is off Broadway while the AFL finals race turns to others. But the away clash with fellow non-contender Essendon has consequences that will ...
"We review every season - at the end of the season - with a fine-tooth comb and we go through it to make sure we have the best chance to improve. We have some evidence (on why Port Adelaide has fallen from a preliminary finalist to a non-finalist). We will go through it closely at the end of the season to make sure that evidence is accurate." We have to turn up knowing the last time we played Essendon, at Adelaide Oval, it was a real challenge and real fight for us, particularly when it was wet." Twice, at 7-7 and 8-8, Port Adelaide squared the ledger. REMEMBER the 1990s when Essendon carried the road safety message of "Speed kills" on its jumper from a sponsorship logo? The 16-point win against Essendon put Port Adelaide at 5-6. PORT ADELAIDE has struggled to overcome the drag of the 0-5 start. The challenge to the Port Adelaide midfielders gets bigger. In nine games, Port Adelaide has had a 3-6 count with an average losing margin of 15 points. After leaving Adelaide Oval at 2-9 on the back of the 16-point loss to Port Adelaide, Ben Rutten's crew has worked a positive 5-4 win-loss count to have rebuilt confidence and belief. "We know what Essendon will bring - speed, energy, high skill and they want to get the ball moving at the back. I want to get the most out of it.
Essendon will be out to claim its first win against Port Adelaide in four years when the two teams meet at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
“It shows the difference in the day, it also shows the impact a player like Finlayson can have.” Such was the scale of the loss, Brown in the immediate aftermath noted: “I don‘t know what to say.” The midfield responded with a better showing in the third quarter, but limped to the finish line, doing nothing to mask questions the Bombers must address ahead of a searching off-season. “It started from the centre-bounce in the first quarter but then around the ground in the second quarter. Todd Marshall kicked the first goal of the second half, but Essendon was then let off by a couple of misses from Port Adelaide in front of goal. “Around the contest it‘s terrible ... they’d been the number one stoppage team in the last month of football but were smashed last week and were absolutely smashed around the football today, especially in the second quarter,” Jonathan Brown told Fox Footy at half-time. There were no late changes for either side. Port Adelaide got off to the perfect start, with Travis Boak finishing off a crisp bit of play in the first 15 seconds of the match. Peter Wright and Nick Hind got back-to-back goals for the Bombers as they began to show a bit more fight through the middle of the ground, but Port Adelaide still managed to get looks at goal. “It seems like they’ve given up in a sense Essendon,” Jordan Lewis said on Fox Footy, pointing to the Bombers’ lack of communication and effort. It marks a welcome pressure release for Port Adelaide and sets the stage for a Showdown with Adelaide to close out its season. Essendon has been demolished by Port Adelaide - 23.8 (146) to 9.8 (62) - in a dismal showing sure to ramp up the pressure on the Bombers heading into the off-season.
Zak Butters and Jeremy Finlayson have played starring roles to help Port Adelaide hand Essendon their heaviest defeat of the AFL season in an 84-point ...
Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter. The Power’s 12.2 (74) was their highest first-half tally of the season. Port Adelaide will bring their season to a close with a Showdown against cross-town rivals Adelaide in round 23, while Essendon host finals-bound Richmond at the MCG. Further goals to Peter Wright and Nick Hind trimmed a touch of fat off the margin before three-quarter-time, but the Power finished full of running and kicked nine last-quarter goals in the comprehensive win. A run of nine consecutive Power goals from late in the first quarter to early in the third put the contest to bed before the visitors ran away with a dominant 23.8 (146) to 9.8 (62) win at Marvel Stadium on Sunday. Finlayson had a huge influence in a ruck-forward role despite losing the hitouts to Sam Draper, finishing with two goals, 25 disposals, four clearances and 10 score involvements.
AFTER being told everyone at the club is under notice this week Port Adelaide responded strongly, downing Essendon 23.8 (146) to 9.8 (62) at Marvel Stadium ...
Finlayson was one of the Power’s better players, finishing with two goals, 25 disposals (at 80 per cent efficiency), 10 score involvements and four clearances. After just eight points separated the sides at quarter-time, the Power ran rampant in the second, restricting the Dons to a solitary point while piling on seven goals. Some of Port’s goals came far too easily and the Bombers’ lack of intensity at times was obvious. Essendon has lost 14 games in 2022, with just one of them being a single-digit margin (Round 19 against Collingwood, where they lost by four points). The Bombers’ average losing margin for the season is 33.21 points and they lost by 30 points or more on six occasions. There was no let up in the final term, with Port banging on nine goals to register its highest score of the season, while the Bombers conceded their highest score of 2022 and 20 goals or more for the second time (the first was in round one against Geelong). The Power set up their 23.8 (146) to 9.8 (62) victory with a seven-goal to nil second quarter to inflict a fifth consecutive defeat of the Bombers.
Zak Butters and Jeremy Finlayson have played starring roles to help Port Adelaide hand Essendon their heaviest defeat...
"We've been really close but not been able to get the job done, so it was good to come over here and put a score on the board, which we think we're capable of but haven't really done that often." "It really hurts. It hurts me, it hurts the players and everyone who's putting in to try to get us where we want to get to."
The Essendon hierarchy will “rue” the decision not to pursue four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson, Fox Footy's David King has warned as the Bombers ...
“It was an embarrassing effort from our guys. This is the forward 50. They won 11 games last year, they’ve won six this year.” “It was the sort of game that our members and supporters who came to the game or were watching on TV … it’s not the sort of thing they should have to watch,” he said. “How lax this is? Watch Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14 days free >
Port Adelaide ended a turbulent week with a statement win against Essendon at Marvel Stadium by 84 points.
“It was an embarrassing effort from our guys. “It hurts me, it hurts the players and everyone who is putting in to get us to where we want to get to,” he said. That was one of the most disgraceful halves of football any side has produced this year. The Power will win by 100 if it continues like this— Ronny Lerner (@RonnyLerner) #AFLDonsPower August 14, 2022 Former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes told SEN: “Essendon is just been a nice team. It has to bring Ben Rutten’s position into question.
Port gave the Bombers a belting to the tune of 84-points in their Round 22 clash. HB and Jimmy Ayres look at this from different perspectives.
For the Bombers and Port Adelaide, that player is Powell-Pepper. His renegade crash-and-bash style netted him four goals to go with his 22 disposals and plenty of evaside run in the forward half. Peter Wright – After Aliir Aliir got the jump on Wright early, the Essendon forward popped back in his shell and didn’t look to influence the game at all. Zach Merrett – I have zero hesitation in arguing that Zach Merrett is a firm choice for the best field kick in the AFL. Sometimes I watch the angles of which he kicks and ponder how the hell he envisioned his player successful being in that time and space whilst looking straight ahead, let alone executing the kick to hit that teammate lace-out. Although the circumstances are different in that the Bombers were facing a loss that can be described as nothing short of embarassing, seeing more than a dozen players physically give up in the second half when there was still game to be played is an indictment on the attitude around this playing group, and any Essendon fan that wants to try and justify it is equally part of the problem. But when he’s not, he drags his heels, throws his toys out of the cot and refuses to put in any effort whatsoever. In the dying minute of the game, Bolton chased his opponent for over 100m at full pace, even though his side was already winning by over six goals and facing a certain victory, Bolton continued to run and chase, when he could’ve easily let his man go and still walked away with the win. This is a hill that I’ll die on, but Dylan Shiel was the ONLY Essendon player that showed an equal willingness to defend the play going back the other way, as he was to attack the game head-on. And Jed McEntee got in on the party in this one, slotting two goals and starting to look dangerous around the contest. It sounds simplistic, but it works, and he had four clearances to his name in the first half, all of which led to Port Adelaide goals. Darcy Parish was rushed and wasteful – a symptom of his side being smashed in the midfield relentlessly in the second quarter. HB Meyers – There has been a lot of criticism for Ken Hinkley and the way he has opted to maintain Jeremy Finlayson as the number one ruck option at Port, even though there are others available. Stoppages – For a team that boasted all offseason about the new “blue-collar” brand of football that they were going to shake up the competition with, I can tell you now that no collar colour designation describes the poor performance dished up, largely by the Essendon midfielders and defenders in this one.