Brendon Lade of Port clashes with Jason Blake and Steven King of the Saints during the AFL ANZAC Day Round 05 match between Port Adelaide Power and the St Kilda Saints at AAMI Stadium. The Slattery Media Group
St Kilda are building up a mutual admiration society consisting of all the coaches they are making look very foolish. Mark Williams is the latest member and like the others before him had nothing but praise for the Saints.
Port went into the match averaging 111 points a game so be restricted to 36 is incredible. At halftime, the Saints had 56 points lead and the match was over.
Simply put, St Kilda are playing at a phenomenal level. They hadn’t beaten Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in nearly 12 years and in doing so kept them to their second-lowest score ever.
It will be interesting to see if they can maintain this phenomenal start to the season.
How we Measure Greatness
There was a lot of speculation about Matthew Pavlich during the week and I would think they would only intensify after his blinder against the Swans. Regardless of the sport, the ultimate definition of greatness comes from how a player performs in the post-season.
Those who play in Premiership winning sides will also be regarded more highly. He has to be selfish if he wants to take care of his legacy and how history remembers him. No different to Brad Ottens leaving Richmond in pursuit of a flag. We would think differently of Pavlich if his exploits were viewed more regularly on the larger stage that September provides.
A great win for Essendon
For every action there is an equal and opposite one. As on top of the world as everyone in red and black will be feeling, those in white and black will be as devastated. The Bombers should take a lot from the win. If they can win a game like that, in those circumstances, then surely then surely they are capable of anything?
They haven’t played in the finals in a while and that win would have felt like a finals win. The task for them now, is to be able to produce on a consistent basis.
As for the Magpies, they will be as shattered as one can for losing a home and away game. The job for them is to take the feeling and use it as motivation for the rest of the year. Both teams have the capacity to use this game as a springboard and motivation for the rest of the year – will be interesting to see which of the two manages it better.
When it’s bad its ugly
Football at its best is exhilarating and wonderful – at its worst it is Adelaide-Melbourne. That was one of the most horrible spectacles in recent memory. (As bad as the Sydney-St Kilda draw in 2002 – I wouldn’t go that far!)
The fact that the Crows kicked a winning score with seven goals is sufficient testament to that. At half-time, Melbourne had managed a lowly three points. By three-quarter time they had increased that to 12. Everyone concerned would like three hours of their life back.
Everyone is a winner
Nice to see that all 16 teams have now opened their account. It is bad for the competition when teams are making up the numbers. Where will Richmond and Fremantle go from here? Was this a rare bit of a sunshine in a predominately gloomy and overcast horizon?
But the dog-eat-dog, week by week nature of the competition is reinforced – win and everyone loves you, lose and it’s tough.
The noose would have slackened somewhat around the necks of Terry Wallace and Mark Harvey.
With 11 teams just separated by four points the competition is still quite tight.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
Bayley Fritsch should become an even more important player from a structural perspective, given key forward Jacob van Rooyen will be unavailable due to concussion.
The AFL is investigating an incident in the last quarter of Collingwood's win over West Coast, when a Magpies supporter leaned over the fence…
Lyon isn't happy with AFL rules limiting the amount of times runners can be sent onto the field to deliver messages.
Tom Hawkins returns to familiar surroundings of Geelong - but is it the tonic he needs to regain some of his confidence back after a goalless four games.
Jeremy Finlayson should be a welcome addition to the Port Adelaide forward line after kicking four goals in the SANFL last week.
Last, year in the second showdown, Adelaide destroyed Port by 47 points with a staggering 20 marks inside 50 with Tex Walker the main star.
