The Port Adelaide Power return to the Thursday night spotlight for the second consecutive week when they host the Hawthorn Hawks. Join The Roar for all the live scores and commentary from 7.50pm (AEST).
After two mediocre seasons, Ken Hinkley’s side look to have turned the corner in 2017, with their percentage of 144.4 second in the competition behind crosstown rivals Adelaide proof that, on their day, there are few sides that can match them.
Their trademark running game is back in full swing this year, with Jared Polec’s form turnaround pivotal to that, and with Charlie Dixon putting together some good form up forward, Port look as lethal as they’ve been since coming within three points of a grand final berth in 2014.
But while Dixon has been a star with 20 goals, he became the villain last week in the Power’s thrilling two-point loss to Geelong. Having taken a strong mark inside 50, he took longer than the allocated 30 seconds lining up for what would have been the game-sealing goal, allowing the Cats to take it up the other end for Patrick Dangerfield to snap the winning goal.
The defeat was Port’s fourth loss this season to fellow top eight contenders, having previously been defeated by Adelaide, GWS and West Coast. While they have inflicted plenty of pain on some of the lesser teams in the competition, they are yet to prove themselves a genuine top-rung side against the very best the league has to offer.
But with a strong backline led by the consistent Jack Hombsch and the rejuvenated Tom Jonas, a midfield full of tough-as-teak bodies like Ollie Wines, Brad Ebert and skipper Travis Boak, and Robbie Gray and Jarman Impey roving around the likes of Dixon and Jackson Trengove up forward, the Power are firing on all cylinders even with the talismanic Chad Wingard still on the sidelines with a calf injury.
Once upon a time, knocking over Hawthorn would have been a sure-fire way for the Power to prove their premiership credentials, but those days are gone.
However, the Hawks are still not to be trifled with even as their era of dominance crumbles around them, with last week’s stirring comeback victory over fellow battlers Sydney a reminder that they still know how to win.
Much has been made of the decline of Hawthorn’s senior core, but they played crucial roles at the SCG, with Shaun Burgoyne starring through midfield, Luke Hodge typically courageous and composed across half-back, and Jarryd Roughead bobbing up late for the winning goal with a clutch set shot from outside 50.
With the likes of Ryan Burton, Blake Hardwick and last week’s debutant James Cousins all showing signs that they are ready to form the basis of Hawthorn’s next finals side and Tom Mitchell racking up the stats in the centre, Hawthorn’s form doesn’t depend solely on their veterans as it appeared to be earlier in the season.
Prediction
After some questioned whether they would so much as win a game after their 0-4 start to the season, the Hawks have won three of their last six, and in an even season, finals are not completely out of the question.
But up against a Power outfit still smarting from their last-minute loss to Geelong, and with a home crowd to be riding every bump along with them, the Hawks look as unlikely to win as they have looked in a long, long time.
In the likely event they slide to 4-7 after this, it will just about consign Alastair Clarkson’s men to their first quiet September since 2009.
Port Adelaide by 41.
Fun fact: A famous name at Alberton, Brad Ebert has missed only one game since crossing over from West Coast at the end of 2011, and the Port vice-captain will be rewarded for his durability when he runs out on Thursday night for his 200th game. Coincidentally, the only game he’s missed was in Round 17 last year, the week after playing, you guessed it, Hawthorn.
Can the milestone man inspire his charges to another percentage-boosting win? Or will it be the Hawks’ mix of young and old that steals the show for an upset win? Tune into The Roar’s live blog from 7.50pm (AEST), and leave us your thoughts in the comments section below.
Leonard
Guest
No easy answer to this much too easy question, because it should not be a this or that choice between viewers and spectators. But this I'd reckon most of us can agree that we don't want to another NRL-type situation where, after 72 H&A games, there are no 50000 crowds (despite two venues with that capacity) and only two 40000s (despite three venues with that capacity) plus three low-to-mid 30000s, and what is astonishing (to me at least) ONLY FIVE 20000 crowds! In contrast, AFL 2017 has 3 x 80000 (itself a record), 3 x 70000, 2 x 60000, 3 x 50000 and lots of 40000s after 89 games. AFL HQ has done (what seem to be) smart deals to get games onto screens small, medium and large, but would it still be smart if bone-headed rostering shows rows and tiers of empty seats?
Penster
Roar Guru
On a Thursday night it's a no go for most fans who travel interstate for games, myself included. Win lose or draw, Adelaide Oval is a great night out and Adelaide a very agreeable city for a weekend. But not mid-week, that's a stretch even for locals with jobs and families.
Cat
Roar Guru
Depends if you are the tv broadcaster or the stadium management.
Slane
Guest
What's more important? An extra 10,000 in the stands or 100,000 on the TV?
SmithHatesMaxwell
Guest
Hawks were best or second best team in the league in the middle of 2014 and were reigning premiers. Crowds are lower on a Thursday night all else being equal, but you have to take into account that Hawthorn are an old, inconsistent, bottom 10 side going nowhere and are no longer a draw card.
Cat
Roar Guru
Good for watching - sucks for attending though.
Slane
Guest
Thursday games tend to rate very well on TV. I love having footy on the TV during the week. Wipes the floor with the rest of the dross on offer. Even if one of the teams doesn’t show up till half time.
Cat
Roar Guru
Adelaide isn't a long trip from Melbourne, not saying the entire change is due to form, but it is certainly a factor.
Leonard
Guest
Possibly, but Hawthorn were coming off a huge Away win over Sydney, and wouldn't the City of Light needed to have had, say, 10,000 active HFC fans to explain the 14000 drop?
Birdman
Guest
haha - I bet you wish your club was a bad as Hawthorn, yeah?
Cat
Roar Guru
You forgot to take into account the fall of the Hawks form. Plenty of bandwagon fans have jumped off (no different for any other team).
Leonard
Guest
And another thing (replying to me): this was in a bloody SIX-GAME ROUND!!!!! - it wasn't that the programmers had trouble finding timeslots for games.
Leonard
Guest
A tally of two crowds (Thanks, Mr Dickens, for the phrasing): (i) Port Adelaide v Hawthorn, 2014-R10, crowd 52223 (ii) Port Adelaide v Hawthorn, 2017-R11, crowd 37910. Two differences (or 'differentials', as clever media dudes would say): ~ different days: a Thursday and a Saturday; ~ different crowds: one 14000 smaller than the other. Same clubs and same time of the season. Your first task (should you wish to take it on) is to work out which game was on the Thursday. Your second task is to try to work WTF was AFL HQ thinking? (Hint: not of people needing to get up for work the day after, nor of kids having to go to school, and not of parents having to take their kids to school. (Nor of 'real' teachers having to work on preparing Friday's lessons.)
Powerboy
Guest
So very true, Rick. At least they will meet those teams later in the season at grounds other than in Canberra or Geelong Wide open spaces beckon for the Power's brand of footy....
SmithHatesMaxwell
Guest
Can't get enough of seeing the Hawks get pumped.
Tim Miller
Editor
Tim Miller
Editor
That's all from me tonight, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for tuning in to what turned out to be a pretty uneventful match after that first term. A six goal to no score first quarter from Port Adelaide paved the way for a 51-point win over Hawthorn. Goodnight! Port Adelaide 13.20 (98) defeated Hawthorn 7.5 (47) by 51 points at the Adelaide Oval. GOALS Port Adelaide: Dixon 4, Impey 2, Boak, S Gray, Ah Chee, Broadbent, Ryder, Powell-Pepper, R Gray. Hawthorn: Roughead 2, Sicily 2, Breust 2, Puopolo. BEST Port Adelaide: Dixon, Ebert, Polec, Ryder, Wines, Ah Chee. Hawthorn: Roughead, Burton, Mitchell, Hodge.
Tim Miller
Editor
Port Adelaide: C. Dixon, three votes. From the moment Charlie Dixon marked on the boundary line and snapped through the first goal of the night from the tightest of angles, it was his night. He's attracted plenty of criticism since arriving at Port on big money at the end of 2015, but he's showed just how good a player he is this year, and tonight was almost a career-best performance. He absolutely monstered Josh Gibson in that first quarter, finishing with a couple of goals and using his 7 possessions to set up one or two more. Finished with four and but for some poor accuracy, could have finished with six or seven. 20 touches and six tackles to add to those goals capped off a terrific all-round night, and he looks set to take the competition by storm in the years to come.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
No team can sustain that type of pressure consistently, which is precisely the Power's problem as mentioned below. Once the pressure drops off you have to rely on systems and structure until the mojo returns. The team who piles on the pain when they're on top and mitigates the best when not usually wins the premiership. Port I don't think can mitigate when they are down, which is why they are 0-4 against teams above them.
Tim Miller
Editor
Port Adelaide: B. Ebert, two votes. Has Brad Ebert changed since 2012? Week in, week out since arriving at Alberton, he rocks up on game day, is ferocious at the contest, and ends up with a stack of possessions and plenty of tackles. Port dominated out of the centre early against the Hawks, and it seemed Ebert was winning half the contests all on his own. With 13 touches in the opening term, he was one of the main reasons his teammates didn't have to do much after quarter time. Finished with 34, and produced one of the signature moments of the night; a brilliant pick-up and slick handpass to Ah Chee in space when surrounded by a stack of Hawks, leading to one of the Power's six opening term goals.