Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has praised matchwinner Zak Butters and star veteran Travis Boak after the ten-point win over Hawthorn.
It was a sign of the fine balance of youth and experience that Port Adelaide have found in their AFL premiership pursuit this season.
Old heads Boak, Tom Rockliff and Ollie Wines did most of the heavy lifting, while young gun Butters provided the spark.
The result was a gritty ten-point win over Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval on Saturday that saw the Power maintain top spot on the ladder for another week.
Butters inspired his side with a tackle on Changkuoth Jiath to set up a second-quarter goal and saved one with a smother on Hawks star Chad Wingard in the third term.
The 19-year-old was thrown into the midfield when the game was on the line and kicked the match-winning goal when he sliced through a forward-50 stoppage with two minutes left to play.
“He’s got that potential to bring some real energy to the team,” Power coach Ken Hinkley said.
“He’s a young player and usually the young players have got that real freedom.
“Zak has got that great composure as well and he knows in those moments he can step up.
“His goal off that stoppage is a pretty special moment for Zak, but he’s a young player learning and he’s still got lots to learn.
“But we’re really glad that he’s with our footy club.”
Boak is enjoying a career-best year and starred with 34 disposals – 11 in the final term – and nine clearances against Hawthorn.
The 32-year-old veteran is firmly in Brownlow Medal contention.
“He’s always had a high standard,” Hinkley said.
“He’s one of those players who brings more often than not a pretty consistent level to his game.
“His form’s been pretty consistent right through the season.”
Port Adelaide will start favourites when they host injury-hit Sydney at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
It is the second of four straight matches against teams currently sitting outside the top eight that could position Hinkley’s men perfectly for a shot at the premiership.
Aaron Paul
Roar Rookie
port are just plain flat, when is their bye?
Aaron Paul
Roar Rookie
port are very flat
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I reckon both dump kicks find tuned to attack. Rather like Lleyton Hewitt's attacking lob. Turn it into a thing of calculated beauty.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Not to mention an enormous $hitbox.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I prefer Ford Territory. Holden was too much of an Adventura.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Lol, you and I see the game so differently, I like quick clean ball use, you value territory. I hate, hate, hate dump kicks.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Why not? I love attack. Let him turn it into an art. Nothing is as exciting as seeing a player want to take on the game, want to win the game. And l don't necessarily mean ad-hoc. If he his disposed to it, don't stifle it but work it.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Dump kick more?
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
I imagine he's being told to bring the aggression by the coach, he's a a big boy, if you can't mark it then scare em.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Rocky needs to do it more, not less. Like a cricketer getting out to the hook, hit thru doldrums. If the potential is there do it.
Cracka
Roar Rookie
Winning ugly or pretty is winning, well done Port, BUT I worry they have played their cards to early, like Brisbane and won't have any tricks come finals, I watched Carlton run hard and get behind them and they got scored against easily, Hawks last night the same, Geelong the same (but I feel in the Geelong game they held back a bit of defense against Hawkins), looking forward to watching the Power in the finals.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
He won’t go for anything but he has all of a sudden got niggle nasty.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
He's lost some form but Ports game plan creates such a cluttered forward line that any mark he tries for is against 3 people, he's never going to get the one on ones Hawkins got last week. I actually don't think there was much in the elbow, if you look at his head and where it's facing I'm not sure you could 100% say he meant it, it actually looks not as bad in slow mo, would have hurt Startten though lol, 105 kg coming down on your head.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
What is going on with Charlie? Down on form? Different defending by opposition? Looks like the coach has told him to do a Lynch as well.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Bit of both I think. Port are very one dimensional at the moment, we need Marshall back to take some heat off Charlie.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Our game plan leads to plenty of shots on goal but they're shots under a lot of pressure because we press so high there's always a hundred people in our front half. I know we won this game but it almost feels like a loss because we've kicked more points than goals again, so frustrating to watch blokes kick points from 20-30 out in front. We're the second least accurate team in the league, it's a real worry. I think young Georgiadis needs a spell, he's got tonnes of talent but maybe needs to go back and practice his set shot kicking and get some confidence, Marshall will be back soon, that will help. Rocky needs to stop dump kicking from stoppages, he's normally composed but I've noticed he does this a lot, he's good with his hands, he needs to find better targets, not just get it on the boot. I don't like this super press we're playing, sure it's great to have multiple shots on goal, but it creates congestion in our forward line and every shot we have is a hard one, it also leaks goals out the back and if the Oppo is playing well provides one on one contests in their forward line, which we don't like because our backline is tiny, McKenzie was playing on Patton last night, that's not going to work on Kennedy or Hawkins. Overall I think the Hawks came to play and as usual were well coached, but we dominated large parts of this game, had we of kicked straight, especially in the last quarter the game should have been over earlier, it's really disappointing we let the Hawks back in time and time again. We've got a few injury/stupidity outs, Houston, Rozee, Ladhams, Marshall and Burton are all important members of this squad, I imagine that Lienert, Bonner, Georgiadis, Rockliff and Motlop would come out for those guys which makes us a more potent footy team by a fair bit, so there's hope.......just got to kick straight.
Gyfox
Roar Rookie
Butters' goal in last 2 mins was great. Question is, are Hawks better than their position shows, or Port not that good?