Have you ever seen one of those nature documentaries when the little gorillas are annoying the Silverback and he tolerates them for a while? They’re running around, getting in his way, disrupting whatever plans he had for the day. he allows them to stay in the vicinity as they tumble around and bum into him, but you know that the more they annoy him, the sooner he is going to blow up and slap the piss out of them?
And when that point arrives, all the little gorillas can do is run as fast as they can before the Silverback gives them a bit of a hiding.
That’s what we had at the Adelaide Oval in this game, as those pesky Gold Coast Gorillas Suns were hanging around the AFL version of the Silverbacks, known as the Port Adelaide Football Club, for an entire half. Hell, the Suns even had the audacity to lead by eight points at halftime!
The gall of these little gorillas. No wonder the Silverback was looking grumpy.
Fear not, though… when the teams emerged from the sheds, the Silverback had experienced enough of their shenanigans and started throwing his own weight around as the second half commenced. Whilst the Suns cannot be accused of running off to avoid a beating, they were run over, around, and through, as Port slammed on nine goals in a brilliant display. They were just outworked and outclassed by one of the top sides in the caper.
The “premiership quarter” left the Suns beaten, and though they would fight on admirably in the last, all it took was one quarter of magnificent footy from Port to put them away, and put their finals chances on life support in the process.
Plenty to get through in this one, and I am the best man for the job. Believe me – I am. Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Big Questions.
WHO ACTUALLY WON THE CASBOULT V ALIIR CLASH?
Aliir won the contest, because his influence on the game did not just just extend to his duel with Levi Casboult. He controlled the defensive fifty and launched counter-attacks all game long. However, before I go into how good Aliir was, I want to take a moment to acknowledge just how competitive Casboult was all game.
This is a bloke that came to the Suns on a second chance from Carlton. Most thought he was there as part of the Gold Coast retirement movement.
Most were wrong.
He was always willing to throw his body into the fray and never afraid of a bit of contact, but it has never been more apparent how important his grunt work is than it was in this game.
Aliir is a monster – one of the strongest blokes in the game, and his ability to hold off an opponent whilst taking an intercept grab has made him a springboard for the Power as they turn defence into offence. But he was unable to do that often against Levi, who used that big frame of his to unsettle Aliir and push him out of the best position. If the Suns had a good crumber (a big “hi” to Izak Rankine in Adelaide) he would have had a field day at Casboult’s feet, but Ben Ainsworth seems to play a bit higher and enjoys getting up the ground. Outside of him, the Suns didn’t have much at ground level to reap the rewards of Casboult forcing contests.
Casboult and Aliir shared ten contested marks for the game, with Casboult dragging in four in the first quarter and Aliir three in the second. Interestingly, when Levi went and had a rest in the second quarter, Aliir immediately took over, manhandling Jack Lukosius and Ben King as he took four intercept marks. When Casboult was on the park, these two engaged in a titanic tussle. When he had a breather, Aliir was all over the place.
Casboult kicked two late goals once the third quarter horse had bolted, and his four-goal return was completely deserved, but Aliir was the master in the back half, finishing with eight intercepts and 11 one-percenters as he made his teammates walk taller.
I love a good, old-fashioned key forward v key defender contest. We got it in this one, and though I expect many to give the nod to Casboult, his two late goals make his result look a lot better. When the Power were rolling, Aliir was crucial. He gets a points decision, but it is was by no means a knockout.
ANY DANGER JACK LUKOSIUS WILL TRY TO TAKE A MARK OUT IN FRONT OF HIS FACE?
I don’t know, but I counted four times that he either dropped a mark, or tried to take it on his chest, allowing an extra split second for the defender (usually Lachie Jones) to get a fist in and break up the marking attempt.
It must have been frustrating to be a teammate of his, as he continually sidled up to the contest and casually tried to chest mark the footy, only for it to come undone. There was simply no desperation about the way he attacked the footy. It was like he and Ben King were having a half-arse-off t see who could be more casual. Lukosius was vying for the Orange Cassidy award and Ben King was obviously an AEW fan and wanted it for himself.
He did do some nice things, but they were largely overshadowed by what he could have done, but didn’t. With Ben King stepping aside, the Suns needed someone to step up. I thought it may have been Lukosius, but in fairness, he is probably better suited to being a third forward – second forward, at best.
And mark the ball out in front of your damn face, Jack. At least you might earn an arm-chop free kick instead of having the footy spoiled.
IS DARCY BYRNE-JONES STARTING TO FEEL AT HOME AS A DEFENSIVE FORWARD?
I thought this was his most complete outing in the role and though he was messy with the footy (he mostly always is), his attack on the footy and hard work resulted in him being an integral part of the Port Adelaide third quarter run.
He finished with a goal and nine score involvements, but it was his two direct goal assists that stood out.
I’ll be honest – I thought that even with Byrne-Jones moving into the leadership group and all, there was a question mark about his position in the team coming into this season. I just didn’t think he was better than some of the talent Port had that could play across half-back.
Turns out Ken Hinkley may have been thinking something along the same lines, because deploying DBJ to the forward line caught most by surprise. And when I say “most”, I mean “me”.
Watching Byrne-Jones get dangerous in this game, you have to feel that Hinkley would be feeling pretty good about his decision to play him in his current role. Even though he didn’t register a tackle in this game, amazingly, his pressure around the footy was excellent and forced the Suns to panic when exiting D50.
WHY WAS ZAK BUTTERS A LITTLE QUIETER THAN USUAL?
Hmmmm, he wasn’t too quiet after halftime, was he?
Nope, he was not. He picked up 15 of his 22 touches after the main break because the bloke he was going head-to-head with found himself with a bit of company in the second half. We’ll get to that in a minute, but with Matt Rowell chasing Butters around – not in a tag, but in an accountable role – through the first two quarters, Butters found it difficult to get involved. He was harrassed and found it a chore to get out into space, with Rowell just close enough to deter the little gives that Butters has been getting all season.
Funnily enough, as soon as he did work into the game, Port came to life. Correlation or causation? You be the judge. Have a read of the next little bit to find out why he was able to come to life after halftime.
HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE WILLEM DREW?
As much as me?
More?
I don’t think Matt Rowell loves him too much
Rowell prides himself on being an excellent two-way player. He takes just as much satisfaction out of laying a great tackle and bringing down his opponent as he does winning a clearance and setting a teammate off and running. So, with 16 disposals and seven clearances in the first half, not only was Rowell getting the better of Butters, he was blowing the game open for the Suns. It is not a stretch to say he was the most damaging player on the ground at that point.
Enter Willem Drew.
Drew is much like Matt Rowell, inasmuch as he values defensive efforts just as much as he does the offensive ones. He is a contested beast and when given an assignment, he takes it seriously – he rarely lowers his colours and works diligently to ensure his end of the bargain is held up.
And he held up his end of the bargain in this one.
Moving onto Rowell, Drew completely shut the young star down. After that huge first half from Rowell, Drew put the clamps on him to restrict him to two disposals in the third quarter and three in the last. This was a blanket job of the highest order. Rowell had zero impact on the contest, soundly beaten.
In stopping Rowell, Drew was able to facilitate Port moving the footy through the middle with purpose. He didn’t get a ton of the footy, himself – he didn’t have to as he had Rozee, Boak, Wines, and Butters all now fully engaged (LOL, I wrote “engorged”… they were excited, huh?). He only had eight touches, but when you consider what he was able to do defensively, it would not have mattered if he didn’t touch the footy at all. It was his work that opened the door for others to excel.
His game was selfless. His game was not the type that will receive accolades, but damn it, his game deserves recognition because it was his sacrifice and attention to detail that shut down the best Gold Coast inside mid and allowed Port clear passage to the footy.
I reckon we might see him get some coaches’ votes, but none in the media – that tends to be the way these things go. He’ll get a few votes in the Mongrel Defensive Payer of the Year Award, though… I give the votes in that one.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH BEN KING?
If there is something wrong, physically, then this next section should be disregarded. I am assuming he was fit because he was ou there playing AFL football, and the comments should be reflective of that.
Ben King barely got out of a jog in this game before Stuart Dew had seen enough and removed him from the game. That’s a nice way of saying he was dragged – almost as nice as saying he was “tactically substituted out of the game”.
Make no mistake, he was dragged. After one touch in the first half – an ineffective kick – King added bugger all to his totals before hitting the bench. I found it funny that he was described as a “power forward” at one stage, as there was nothing powerful about his game other than the stench coming off it. It stunk!
When he was in a contest against Aliir, he was beaten. As a matter of fact, when he was in a contest with Aliir, he didn’t even make the contest, at times. Aliir led him to the footy and made him look slow. No – scratch that – Aliir didn’t make him look slow. King’s lack of effort and urgency made him look slow. It also made him look disinterested and weak – exactly the opposite that you want from the guy who is your star forward and reputed to be the bloke to carry them into their first era of success
A couple of states away, King’s twin brother suffered a recurrence of his shoulder injury in the opening minutes of their loss against the Demons. Maybe Ben went out in sympathy of Max?
Stupidity aside, this brings up a lot of questions about King, his desire to compete. Again, if he is injured, that is understandable – perhaps he shouldn’t have played, but he did and we can only assess him on what we saw. Was his effort a reflection of how he feels about Stuart Dew? About the club? About his situation? Or was it just the grind of the season catching up with him after his season off with an ACL injury?
As a knee injury veteran, all I expected from King this season was effort. I genuinely thought it would take him 12 months to get back to being the player he was, so part of me doesn’t want to be harsh on him, at all. Maybe the little man on his shoulder was talking loudly in his ear about being reinjured? Maybe he felt a tweak or some weakness? It happens.
Whatever the reason, a player of his ability should not be sitting on the bench looking pissed off at his performance and the world. He should be the driver of this club forward of centre – he is paid to be exactly that. Time to start earning that money, or you know what? The Suns should pursue the trade instead of waiting for him to do it.
Whack.
WAS THAT GOAL OF THE YEAR?
It would have to be close.
What a joy Connor Rozee is to watch play football. Perfectly balanced, immaculately skilled, and with a work ethic that continues to grow under the tutelage of Travis Boak, Rozee is fast becoming one of the must-see acts in the game. Given he tags up with Zak Butters, we’re looking at one of the best, and most watchable one-two punches in the game.
But that goal… running flat out toward the boundary, with barely a step to steady himself, and executing a perfect dribble kick to guide it through the big sticks… I wonder whether he could do that again on cue?
Rozee is one of those types you’d think could do it. It reminds me of the Ron Barassi and Malcolm Blight story, where Blight kicked a banana goal from the boundary and Barassi was furious he didn’t do the team thing. In front of the team the next training session, he called Blight out and asked him to repeat the effort ten times, thinking there was no way he was gonna kick a goal again. After Blight kicked four the same way and hit the post twice out of ten, Barassi cracked it and told him to bugger off.
I wonder how many Rozee would thread if Hinkley did the same?
I know I am preaching to the Port Adelaide choir in this review, but I haven’t seen a better one this season. Bloody spectacular goal. Bloody spectacular player.
SOME QUICKIES
Loved the Bailey Humphrey rundown tackle on Zak Butters in the second quarter. That is just another little highlight on this kid’s reel at the moment, and when you’re in year one, that is what you want to see start being populated. He will be a player.
As a Port supporter, you would have loved to see the Power work the forward line contests to get Junior Rioli one-on-one with Lachie Weller. They manufactured that matchup twice and it led to goals both times. Weller is a great rebounding defender, but as a pure defender, he is a liability. Great cohesion by the Port forwards to work that situation to their favour. Good coaching, too… which I know upsets some Port fans. Even after 13 straight wins, there is still nowhere near enough love for Ken Hinkley.
Oh, also, a couple of those deft touches from Rioli to set up teammates on the run… brilliant. Too easily forgotten in the washup, but in the moment, he makes things happen.e
The bump is not dead – picture perfect hip and shoulder from Kane Farrell in the first quarter made me smile.
Good to see Travis Boak back amongst it after a quiet game last week. 20 touches and a goal from the wing is a nice return.
Finally, great to see Touk Miller back. It’ll take him a couple of weeks to get back to doing what he is capable of doing, but I like seeing the best players out there, and his absence from Gold Coast has been keenly felt. They’re gonna need him if they are to do anything of note from here.
Calling it now – the out-of-contract Sam Flanders won’t be at Gold Coast next season. There are a few teams he will get a solid run in, but the Suns midfield looks set. With Humphrey coming through, his best bet will be elsewhere.
Massive outing from Jeremy Finlayson in this game. He is such a tough matchup when he plays like this. Finished with 3.4 and two goal assists, but could have had five quite easily. That he can pinch hit in the ruck gives Port a real weapon as he pushes forward almost immediately after taking a ruck contest.
Another quiet one for Jason Horne-Francis. I wonder if he is a bit sore at the moment? Eight of his 11 touches were contested, with five of them clearances. I get the feeling Port might give him a week rest before the finals to freshen him up. He is as strong as an ox, but he has just turned 20 and he takes some punishment.
And that might just do me. Another week, another win to Port. They get Carlton at Marvel next week and depending on what happens against Freo this week, could be coming up against the Blues on their own win streak (of three) or a losing streak (of one… haha).
Either way, that’ll be a good one.
As for the Suns, they head home to face the Saints, who are two games ahead of them. They need this win. If they’re not out of contention yet, a loss at home will end them.
As always, thanks so much for the support of our members. It means a heap, and Port fans, if you’ve read this far, you know what you can tell opposition supporters that hate on Port, Hinkley, and the win streak, right?
Come on… his name sounds like a cigar brand and you know it!
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