Port Adelaide Power (Yartapuuti) v Geelong Cats
Never Tear Us Apart
Disco Monagle
Never Tears Us Apart
Players, Coaches, Coaching staff, barrackers, supporters and even the casual followers of this great game will be feeling a sense of loss, heartache and sympathy for the Selwood family this weekend.
The death of Adam Selwood overnight just a couple of months after the death of his identical twin brother Troy is a tragedy beyond words.
My heart goes out today to all who are feeling saddened by Adam’s sudden tragic death.
I feel it appropriate to highlight the following at the start of this review and not the end.
If you are feeling depressed, anxious, struggling and alone and/or isolated, please reach out to one of the following helplines:
Lifeline 13 11 14 lifeline.org.au
Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 beyondblue.org.au
Kids Help 1800 551 800 kidshelpline.com.au
Headspace 1800 650 890 headspace.org.au
Ring a Mate
Please don’t suffer in silence – a call may just save your life.
Adam Selwood, the footballer played 187 games for the West Coast Eagles, he was an integral part of the Eagles 2006 Premiership team, and he finished third in the Eagles Best and Fairest in 2007 and 2008.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to his wife Fiona, their two children Lenny and Billie, the entire Selwood family, especially his parents Maree and Bryce, his brothers Joel and Scott, close friends, all who played with him at the Eagles and those who played against him who considered him a mate.
Vale Adam Selwood.
Given the circumstances, Never Tear Us Apart was the most appropriate song to be played before the first bounce at this encounter given the prominence of the Selwood family at Geelong – it brought a tear to my eye – as it should.
The Game
Port Adelaide 2: 4: 16 / 3: 6: 24 / 4:9: 33 / 5: 9: 39 were defeated by
Geelong 3: 1: 19 / 5: 3: 33 / 10: 9: 69 / 17: 13: 115
Goals:
Power: Powell-Pepper 2, Georgiadis 1, Byrne-Jones 1, Richards 1.
Cats: Cameron 7, Dempsey 2, Close 1, Oliver Henry 1, Neale 1 Stengle 1, Atkins 1, Bowes 1, Humphries 1, Mannagh 1.
Best:
Power: Powell-Pepper, Wines, Rozee, Burgoyne, Allir.
Cats: Dempsey, Cameron, Smith, O’Connor, Bilcavs, Miers, Atkins, Holmes, Humphries.
Injuries:
Power: Horne-Francis (possible hamstring), Jones (possible hamstring), Sims (corky).
Cats: Dangerfield (possible hamstring), Bowes (possible hamstring).
Injuries are a Curse – Nurse Ratched
In the first half of this match both benches looked like a scene from MASH. Medical staff were scurrying in all directions as player after player went down. In order of injury occurring, the first was Josh Sinn, then Jack Bowes, then Patrick Dangerfield, then Jason Horne-Francis, and finally Lachie Jones midway through the second quarter.
There was injury carnage everywhere.
In the context of this match, the injury to Lachie Jones had a greatest impact on the result. Jones was actually beating Jeremy Cameron to that point, and he was keeping the Power in the game until he pulled his hammy. As soon as Jones started limping, Cameron, like a true cat of prey, pounced on the next play and kicked the first of his seven gaols.
Cameron followed that goal up with another before the halftime to break the game open – the big cat had broken free from the shackles.
Cameron, himself, was limping after a knee-on-knee contact during the second quarter, and it would be fair to say there was a collective sigh of relief from all who follow the blue and white hoops when Jezza returned to the field after the main break.
All eyes will rightfully be on Horne-Francis and Dangerfield in the coming week, but the loss of Jones from the Power’s defence had the biggest impact on the result of this match.
Where the Game was Won and Lost
(Before I forget, unless the Power are playing a team lower on the ladder, I will never tip them again this year.)
Midway through the third quarter, I noted the Power had completely given up and the Cats were literally using them as mere witch’s hats. Powell-Pepper, Rozee, Wines and Bryne-Jones aside, there was just no fight from the Power in the second half.
Kenny stated after halftime, given the injuries and having only two fit players on the bench, that he had instructed his charges to slow the play down and to try and be precise and pinpoint with ball in hand.
I don’t think Kenny meant to play the second half like they were in a collective coma, but that is what it resembled.
After an extremely boring first half, except for Cameron breaking free in the last five minutes of the second quarter, the Power were still in the match at the main break, trailing by only nine points. Bad kicking and wasted opportunities haunted Port in the first half, and while they had control of the general play it was not reflected on the scoreboard.
The Cats won this game in the third quarter, with the last quarter just being a percentage booster, and a nice percentage booster at that.
From the first bounce of the third quarter, it was obvious if the Cats could get the first couple of gaols, then it would be game over, and that is how it played out as the Cats kicked five goals to a solitary major to the Power.
Blicavs got on top in the ruck (however Dante Visentini showed enough in this game to say he had a promising future at Alberton) in the third stanza, and he provided ample supply to Smith, Miers, Holmes, Dempsey who just run amok pumping the ball forward, and nullifying any forward press the Power attempted.
Down back, Zach Guthrie was all class, and he led the relatively inexperienced Cat back six by example. I will mention Jack Henry who only had eight possessions for the game, but he made sure both Georgiades and Finlayson had no impact on the match.
Stengle and Close are pivotal to the success of the Cats, and they don’t need many possessions to make an impact on the scoreboard. Both played their role in the third quarter (I say this as a compliment) by being pesky and annoying players who are hard to shake, and when they break free, they rip you apart.
There was one piece play in the fourth quarter which will haunt the Power during their revision of this game, when Close smothered a kick from Burgoyne, Stengle picked up the ball and both ran the ball through the middle before finding Cameronn with a precision pass.
It was beautiful to watch, but when the cameras panned to Kenny in the dugout, he had a look of stunned realisation on his face. Not anger, not happiness, but just a realisation there is no fairytale ending for him.
I also noted that by the middle of the last quarter the crowd had thinned out as much as my hairline as the Teal left the terraces in their droves.
The Power fans know, Kenny knows. We all know. It is now time to move Kenny to move on and for Josh Carr to be given a chance of moulding the team he wants in season 2026.
I like Ya, but I’m not sure I love Ya! – Georgiades and Finlayson
Mitch Georgiades had three very gettable set shots in the first quarter, and he missed them all, and then he went missing completely until junk time in the last when he finally slotted a goal from an acute angle.
There was audio doing the rounds of the AFL about 15 years ago of Spud Frawley mocking himself as a coach. There was one line from that audio I believe Kenny may have said to his star forward Mitch at halftime, paraphrasing, ‘I like ya, but I’m not sure I love ya, and can you please kick a (censored) goal you (censored) (censored), for (censored) sake.
There must be a point when a Coach just cuts loose and goes full on ‘bunta’ at a player who has teased for years without delivering.
I’m not sure Kenny likes Jeremy Finlayson, but he does love him.
Finalyson has had his own troubles and (real) tragedies he has had to work through during his career, but it feels like he is now at the crossroads as an AFL player.
Does he continue, or does he move on to other areas in his life?
I hope I am wrong, but it looks like he like he has lost his hunger and appetite for the game. If Jeremy was working in ‘civvy street’, he would be watching the clock each day waiting for the time he can just punch out.
Dempsey for All Australian
Oliver Dempsey, I tipped my hat to you after your third quarter display at Adelaide Oval ripped the Power to pieces.
It is easy to look at the stats and name Jezza as the best player afield, or even Bailey (HBK) Smith with 30 quality possessions, but Jezza kicked five of his goals in the last quarter, while Smith was, well just Smith, but it was the third quarter effort of Master Dempsey which swung this game.
It wasn’t just that Dempsey had ten plus possessions in the third to break the game open, but rather it was the maturity he demonstrated as a player stepping up in the absence of the injured Dangerfield.
One moment Dempsey was running down a player from behind attempting a forward thrust for the Power, and a moment later he was attacking the ball and running it into the Cats forward line. The only knock-on Oliver is he could have kicked straighter; he finished the third quarter with one goal and three behinds.
Dempsey is maturing into a fleet footed elite athlete.
Well played, young man.
Kenny
There must come a point the powers to be at Alberton have to decide on not only what is best for Kenny, but what is best for the Club?
In the second half of this match the Power players clocked out and basically played dead. Players like Sam Powell-Pepper and Connor Rozee didn’t give up, but they never do. However, there was a severe power outage by the rest of the players in the second half.
It will be argued the Power only had two players on the bench for the second half, but the Cats also had a reduced bench, and the Power lost this match in the first half of the third quarter when all players should have been relatively fresh.
If this game was a test of the makeup and character under pressure for the Power, then they failed to fire a shot after halftime, and meekly accepted their fate. This was a game (after halftime) where the result was less important than the effort for the Power, but there was only limited fortitude and fight shown by the players in the face of adversity.
This was not an honourable loss by Port, no matter how well it is sugar coated in the coming days.
Well played Geelong, you are a classy outfit.
Special Mention to Lawson and Meeza Humphries – Great Guernsey Design
In an era when teams seem to run out in a different guernsey each week, it is rare to see one which stands out above the others, but ‘chapeau’ to Lawson and Meeza Humphries, your Geelong ‘Sir Doug Nicholls Round’ guernsey design stands out above the rest.
Next week the Power travel Perth to take on the resurgent Dockers, while the Cats host the rampant Bulldogs at the Cattery on Thursday night.
