Port Adelaide have pulled off one of the upsets of this AFL season, beating premiers Hawthorn to most likely sabotage their top-two hopes.
Hawks captain Luke Hodge is also in trouble after Friday night’s 22-point loss for collecting Port star Chad Wingard high with a bump.
By contrast, the 16.12 (108) to 13.8 (86) win will also leave the Power even more frustrated about why such performances have been so rare in a season that started with such great expectations.
Hawthorn started this match half a game behind second-placed West Coast.
If the Eagles beat the Western Bulldogs at home on Sunday, they will have a game-and-a-half break with only two matches left.
It probably means Hawthorn will have to travel to Perth to play the Eagles in a qualifying final.
Three games after Richmond upset them, Port also exposed chinks in Hawthorn’s armour by denying them the football and owning the corridor.
Oddly, despite Port’s underwhelming form, it is the second time this season they have beaten Hawthorn.
Hodge will come under match review panel scrutiny for collecting Wingard high with a bump with tempers flaring early in the third term.
Wingard’s head then also hit the point post, but he kicked two goals soon after.
While Hawthorn never led, they only trailed by a point at three-quarter time and it looked as though they might overrun the Power.
Instead, Port kicked five goals to two in the last quarter to cap an outstanding match.
Midfielder Robbie Gray (33 possessions), Sam Gray (a game-high 34 possessions), ruckman Paddy Ryder and defender Jack Hombsch starred and Wingard added to his stellar season with four goals.
Port were on top early, leading by 14 points at quarter-time and taking a game-high lead of 24 points early in the second term.
The alarm bells were ringing loud for the premiers, who did not kick a goal from 11 minutes in the first quarter until 14 minutes into the third.
The Hawks managed to steady, reducing the lead to 11 points late in the second term.
But Hawthorn defender Brian Lake had one of his notorious brain fades, conceding a silly 50m penalty and gifting Jay Schulz a goal.
The Hawks managed to negate that with the last goal of the half.
Wingard’s second goal after the Hodge bump put Port 23 points ahead and again the Hawks looked out of sorts.
But Port could not land the killer blow, giving the ball back to Hawthorn and missing crucial shots on goal as often as the Hawks let themselves down with poor disposal.
Hawthorn kicked five of the last six goals in the third term, but Port broke away in the last quarter.
Wingard’s final goal came from a controversial free at a pivotal moment in the last quarter.
Josh Gibson’s incidental high contact gave Wingard the shot and he put Port 15 points ahead.
A few minutes later, Brendon Ah Chee also had a set shot for Port, but he inexplicably handballed to Angus Monfries and Hawthorn rushed it through for a behind.
“I was a little bit confused as to why he went for the handball,” coach Ken Hinkley admitted.
“Kids make mistakes.”
But Port kicked the last two goals of the game to close out the win.
Hinkley praised defender Nathan Krakouer, who subdued Hawks star Cyril Rioli.
The Power coach added he had not seen the Hodge-Wingard incident, but had heard plenty about it post-match.
“Hodgey plays hard footy – I love that,” Hinkley said.
“Chad plays hard footy (and) we love playing hard football teams.”
Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson strongly defended Hodge for the high contact.
“Just run the tape at full speed – (it’s) a hard game,” Clarkson said.
Clarkson said they were beaten by a better side and the scores probably flattered them.
But he was far from crestfallen about their chances this season.
“It’s not ideal … but it’s not like ‘aw gee, this is catastrophic, we’re no chance of winning the flag now’,” he said.
“That’s far from the truth.”
Hinkley laughed when the first question in his post-match media conference was whether there was a sense of frustration about the win.
“How come I knew that was going to be the question,” he said.
“There clearly is (frustration), but we haven’t been good enough all year.”
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