TORN APORT by George On The Outer

“…. they could never tear us apart” … 

So sing Port Adelaide home supporters before every game but when they sang the song before their Round 4 game vs Melbourne on Thursday night, their worst fears were realised before their very eyes.  

As usually happens, the horrible vision unfolding in front of them, will now see them turning on their coach after the side produced a goalless first half, the first time that has happened since the club’s inception in the AFL.

Port was given a lesson both as a club and from a coaching perspective by the ruthless Demons.  Although the first quarter was a genuine slogfest, there never seemed to be a chance of Port gaining any ascendancy.  The Melbourne defence, ably led by Stephen May and with Jake Lever marshalling all around him, they repelled attack after attack. But it wasn’t just at the last line of defence, it was the input from the wingers and mids that just kept Port out of any genuine scoring range.

In his post match presser, Simon Goodwin said the side can defend “ for long periods of time”, and that was the case in this game.  The defenders kept Port to 3 points at ¼ time and a meagre 5 points in total to ½ time.  At some point the momentum and opportunities would change and the Demons banged on 5 goals in a 15 minute period before half time. 

Game over.

This blew out to a 47 point lead through the third before the fans saw the familiar “shut up shop” from the Demons who ran out eventual 32 point winners.  Port kicked a couple of junk time goals in the final minutes, courtesy of Motlop, but up to that point he really hadn’t troubled the statisticians.

The home team were in real bother even before the game with Dixon and Allir watching from the sidelines, while they also lost Wines early in the match and Lycett struggling with a shoulder injury.  The lack of personnel was only compounded by the non-functioning game plan of trying to switch the ball from side to side.

If their coaching staff had done some elementary research, they would know that is not possible against a Melbourne side with relentless runners who cover the ground to deny free movement.  If the first one doesn’t get you, the second and third will, and viewers would think they had the vision on repeat as intercepts, turnovers and spillages were forced on the Port players.  Small wonder they could only score four goals for the game.

With Lycett struggling, and having to use Marshall as back-up ruck, it further reduced their scoring chances, but it also opened the gates for the Melbourne rucking duo of Gawn and Jackson to do their thing to damaging effect.  Max with 12 marks 5 contested and Jackson with 5, 2 contested, they just ruled the air both in the backline and forward line as well.  Oh and Max chimed in with 33 hitouts and 516 metres gained… and everyone thought Jackson was the athletic ruckman!

If the ball got past them down back Stephen May cleaned up everything coming his way with 12 marks 23 disposals and an incredible 692 metres gained!  What should really worry opposition coaches and teams due to meet Melbourne in coming weeks is that Petracca and Oliver had a lot less impact than usual.

Mind you, 24 and 19 touches respectively would qualify as a pass mark in other sides, but Ken Hinkley would be grateful they didn’t add to the Port pain by an even greater extent.

At the end of the match Mark Williams, the Port premiership coach, was seen wandering across the ground, looking up at the scoreboard and the now empty and deserted stands. He was probably wondering what has happened to the foundations he built so long ago; foundations that have now been torn apart.

Williams would just as equally be proud of his contribution to a Melbourne side which has torn the competition apart, with three of last years finalists already dispatched in 2022.

With six of the next eight Melbourne games to come at the MCG, fans should not be torn about whether to go to watch the Demons play because they can say “we were standing…we were there”… (with apologies to INXS) 

MELBOURNE 1.3.9 6.6.42 9.7.61 10.8.68

PORT ADELAIDE 0.3.3 0.5.5 1.8.14 4.12.36

GOALS

MELBOURNE Fritsch 3 Harmes 2 Jackson GawnLangdon McDonald Viney

PORT ADELAIDE Motlop 2 Georgiades Houston

BEST 

MELBOURNE Gawn Harmes Jackson Langdon Petracca Brayshaw Jordon

PORT ADELAIDE Burton Bonner Jonas Bergman Clurey

INJURIES

MELBOURNE Nil

PORT ADELAIDE McKenzie (knee) replaced in selected side by Bergman Wines (nausea) Lycett (shoulder)

REPORTS

MELBOURNE Nil

PORT ADELAIDE Nil

SUBSTITUTES

MELBOURNE Bedford (unused)

PORT ADELAIDE Dumont (replaced Wines)

UMPIRES Leigh Fisher Robert O'Gorman Craig Fleer

CROWD 23,058 at Adelaide Oval