Steven Motlop after his match-winning goal against Adelaide, a kick which may end up defining Port Adelaide’s season. Picture: FOX FOOTY
For Port Adelaide, a moment which made all the difference
Can one kick shape a club’s entire season? It sounds way too simplistic and yet, in the case of Port Adelaide in 2018, it might actually be true.
That kick came from Steven Motlop in round eight, and delivered the Power a famous “Showdown” victory over bitter rival Adelaide in what was clearly the best standard game we’ve seen this year.
It would remain memorable enough in its own right regardless of the context. But increasingly for Port, it’s looking like proving the difference between a genuine tilt at something special this September, and another season of disappointment.
The Power were a precarious 4-3 going into the Showdown and led the Crows by 17 points with under three minutes left on the clock when they were stunned by a barrage of goals from Eddie Betts, Taylor Walker and Mitch McGovern, the last of which gave Adelaide the lead with only 40 seconds to play.
If ever a situation was going to cement a side’s reputation as flaky and unreliable, it was this, Port seemingly consigned to a sixth straight loss to its arch enemy, 11th spot on the ladder and perhaps the implosion of its entire 2018 campaign.
Instead at the final centre bounce, young defender Dougal Howard won a desperate clearance, little Jake Neade hurled himself at the ball to somehow split a contest against three opponents, Sam Gray dished off the spills to Motlop, and the former Cat, after taking a balk, threaded a goal from 40 metres on the run.
If you needed any convincing of the importance of that moment for Port, you only needed to look at the reaction of coach Ken Hinkley in the box seconds later when the siren rang. And so has it proved a defining moment.
Not only did 4-4 and 11th become 5-3 and eighth, but the kick-start of confidence and momentum Port Adelaide required. The Power since has been a different, far tougher and more resilient beast, a key to five wins from six games, the one defeat by just three points to Hawthorn at what has become a fortress for the Hawks in Launceston.
Last Friday night’s come-from-behind win against Melbourne and the round 12 defeat of Richmond have been particularly significant.
They’ve both been victories in which Port hasn’t eclipsed a highly-rated opponent just with dazzling, attacking football, but been able to match them also in the prolonged periods of dour, tight scrappiness in the same game.
Against the Tigers, Port stole a march with a seven-goal second quarter, but then managed to hang on despite kicking only one more goal for the entire second half, simultaneously restricting Richmond to only three.
Against Melbourne, the Power did it even tougher, out-muscled early and 20 points in arrears after the Demons’ third goal in just four minutes.
Again, though, there was impressive resilience. Despite being well-beaten for disposals, contested possession and clearances, and absolutely smashed on the inside 50 count, Port somehow hung in well enough to remain a winning chance.
Late third quarter goals to Robbie Gray, Charlie Dixon and Justin Westhoff reduced the deficit to single digits, and in the final term it was three goals to zip, Port having ended up kicking six of the last seven goals of the game.
The hero of the hour in this victory was Port Adelaide’s somehow still unheralded defence. Good enough last season to have finished No.2 in the rankings for fewest points conceded, this time the Power back six managed to soak up a whopping 68 inside 50s by Melbourne and still give up only nine goals.
Tom Jonas stood tall in a key defence post, but had plenty of critical support from the likes of Tom Clurey, Riley Bonner, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Dougal Howard and Jasper Pittard.
The Power have conceded 100-point tallies just twice this season and over the last five games have let through a miserly average of just 60 points per game, a stinginess which is going to win them far more games than it loses, particularly with an attack which still has plenty of scope for improvement.
The midfield remain the jewel in the crown, Ollie Wines’ recent form superb, Tom Rockliff getting better after a slow start, Jared Polec important to the run, and Travis Boak and Brad Ebert always contributors.
And in a bona fide superstar in Robbie Gray and Chad Wingard, Hinkley has an enormous weapon, two players capable of elite football either as midfielders or genuine small forwards. A positional swap between the pair, as has been happening frequently, can impact on two different parts of the ground.
From a tenuous position one-third of the way through the season, Port is now in a place most of its rivals would envy.
The Power are fifth on the ladder, behind fourth-placed Collingwood only on percentage. Only two of their remaining nine games are against teams currently in the top eight, and over the next few weeks there’s a golden opportunity to cement their position with clashes against Carlton, St Kilda, Fremantle, GWS (at home) and the Western Bulldogs.
The Port Adelaide of recent times would be regarded as just as big a chance to drop any of those as safely bank four points and improve its percentage. But this seems like a much more reliable model.
And if it amounts to a team which can really do some damage in September, those precious few seconds and one straight kick from the boot of Steven Motlop back in early May will come to be seen as a defining moment in Port Adelaide’s AFL history.
*This article first appeared at SPORTING NEWS
