Power sparks in final charge
WHEN Port Adelaide fell 20 points down under an avalanche of inside 50s and clearances to Melbourne last night the question was whether it was up for the fight.
For three quarters it had stumbled under Melbourne’s finals-like pressure but it refused to wilt and came up big when it mattered in the last.
There were Charlie Dixon’s repeated contests, Robbie Gray’s knock-ons, Justin Westhoff’s courageous play, Ollie Wines and Paddy Ryder’s overhead marks and Dougal Howard’s fist. Then Lindsay Thomas and Sam Gray finished it off with their set shots to get the Power home by 10 points.
Tom Jonas was the rock in a defence but Westhoff was sensational with his 50m goal in time-on of the final term.
Earlier Port’s oldest player chased down Dom Tyson for a free kick, took contested marks in the forwardline, spoiled the ball in defence and pinch-hit in the ruck.
As awesome was Wines who, in the dying moments, took a contested mark from a Power kick-in, pushed forward and took one at half-forward as the final siren went.
Captain Travis Boak was good and his kick to set up a Westhoff goal from Todd Marshall’s groundball get typified Port’s mindset.
The win takes Port Adelaide to a 9-4 record with games against Carlton, St Kilda and Fremantle coming up.
It was such a gutsy win that will give its top four chances a huge boost because for three quarters the Power looked ordinary under Melbourne’s real and perceived pressure.
It could win the hot footy but needed cool heads to go with it and its composure had deserted it with hurried kicks, punching the footy when marks could have been taken, over-running the ball and over-handballing when there was a need for steady nerves.
But class, a never-say-die attitude and a stoic defensive effort saw Port concede only two points in the final quarter to get the win.
The titanic ruck battle between Max Gawn and Ryder in the ruck finished even and while Melbourne’s midfield, led by bulls Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney, won the stats sheet, it did not translate to the scoreboard.
It took 21 minutes to break a goalless deadlock but Melbourne arrived with a bang with three goals in five minutes to give the Demons the early advantage.
Port had its chances but missed three shots, two very gettable, and trailing 4-14 in clearances pulled the trigger to send Gray — who was not seeing any action inside 50 — into the midfield for a spark.
But it was Brad Ebert who found his range. After an unusually quiet month, a desperate Ebert lunged at Joel Smith to catch him holding the ball and kicked the Power’s first goal after the quarter-time siren.
Dixon caught Oscar McDonald with the footy and Chad Wingard floated across the pack and kicked a brilliant set shot from a tight angle.
Steven Motlop only had six touches in the first half but set up two goals and the pick of them was in time-on when he burst through the centre of the ground, had three bounces and the composure to wait for Boak to run into position and weighted the pass perfectly.
Gray’s two third-quarter goals put Port right back in it but again the Dees had the answers through Tim Smith, Jake Melksham and Christian Salem.
But Port had one last crack left in it.
The Power exhausted itself in the final quarter with manic workrate at both ends.
The down-the-line contested marks to Wines, Dixon, Ryder and then Wines again at the death had the crowd on its feet