A gutsy and important with for the Power
Well, that game had a bit of everything. I thought 10 goals would win and in the end Port’s 9.12 got the job done but only just. As on their trip to Fremantle the Pies were admirable and gallant but they’ve fallen short. Ken Hinkley’s side wanted to win this one for their old colleague Phil Walsh and through sheer bloody-mindedness they’ve done it.
There wasn’t much aesthetic charm to that second half but it’s worthwhile sifting through some stats. Port was -10 on clearances in the end, +6 on I50s, +8 on marks inside 50, -24 on contested ball and -12 on tackles, yet they still got it done. That was partly due to the fact that the Pies spent the whole game playing catch-up after a terrible first term, but full credit to them for outplaying the winners for large patches of the game.
Ollie Wines was an inspiration all night with 34 possessions (18 contested, plus 9 clearances, 5 I50s and 10 tackles) to dominate the midfield. Chad Wingard had 21 and kicked 3.3 including a stupendous banana from the boundary to be the difference up forward, while Justin Westhoff was excellent with 26 and 8 tackles. Matthew Broadbent? Monumental. 25 touches and 9 rebounds doesn’t sound anything special but he was instrumental to this win.
The Pies will be disappointed they couldn’t finish it off in the end but they were well served by Taylor Adams (37 possessions but a likely MRP subject), Dane Swan with 33 (11 clearances) and the usuals - Steele Sidebottom and Scott Pendlebury.
It wasn’t attractive that game, but it was still beautiful.
Thanks for joining me.
Port win it by 3 points!
Port Adelaide 9.12 (66) vs Collingwood 9.9 (63)
Oof! Scott Pendlebury hits the post with a long-range soccer at goal, one that would have reduced the Adelaide Oval to stunned silence. Not that it looks like there’s many people left in the outer. 45,000? I reckon there’s about 20,000 still there as I type. I think I’d sit in driving rain for a finish like this to be honest. It’s under a kick in it now too, so the likelihood of heartbreak for one side is strong. What has either side got left in the tank as the clock ticks under 5 minutes?
It’s desperate stuff. Port go forward for a short period but the Pies clear the danger and then vice versa. Players are out on their feet and rotations ragged. O’Shea rushes a Collingwood behind but it’s one that almost ends in disaster when Elliott fly kicks at the ball as it edges over the line. It goes from end to end once more. Still nothing.
Three points in it and 2 minutes left. The Pies go forward. Broadbent clears and hits Schulz on the chest with a remarkable pass. The Power cough it up. Fasolo belts it forward once more but BROADBENT INTERCEPTS AGAIN!
40 seconds left. 35 and its with Ah Chee. Then 25 and Port go forward to an empty 50. 15 seconds as Adams rebounds for the Pies. 4 seconds. The Pies go inside 50! 1 second! Is it a mark? No it’s not! Port hang on for a 3-point win! Remarkable stuff at the Adelaide Oval!
Pies goal! 4th quarter (9:58 remaining) Port Adelaide 9.12 (66) vs Collingwood 9.6 (60)
In the words of Alan Partridge, SHIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT! I still have no idea how he’s done it but Taylor Adams has just kicked a miracle snap from 40 metres out. Did he ever mean it? Was he trying to center it? Who cares, it was brilliant. The Pies are back within a goal now and galloping home. It’s alive!
Fair finish from Adams pic.twitter.com/GhebkT2dvO
— Scott (@Scottlb_) July 9, 2015
Updated
Pies goal! 4th quarter (10:24 remaining) Port Adelaide 9.12 (66) vs Collingwood 8.6 (54)
45, 418 people have braved the elements to watch this and mostly being Port fans, they’re probably enjoying it a bit more than Nathan Buckley. He’s looking very ‘Michael Douglas in Falling Down’ right now.
Tell you who else is putting it a mighty shift in this term? Matthew Broadbent. Every time the Pies go forward he seems to anticipate the precise path of the forward entry and cut it off. But then the Pies finally get one back! There was some congestion 2o metres from goal following a stoppage and with the ball skidding into the square Jordan de Goey goes Route 1, thumping it through the middle with a clearance that would make Jaap Stam weep. It’s a goal!
Updated
Power goal! 4th quarter (16:24 remaining) Port Adelaide 9.12 (66) vs Collingwood 7.6 (48)
The final term is under way and to commemorate that event, players choose to slide around on their backs, dive on top of packs and slew their kicks off the side of the boot. The first couple of minutes is just dismal but Robbie Gray almost elevates proceedings by blatantly shoving Alan Toovey in the back and juggling a mark but his set shot from 25 metres misses to the right. Probably fair on balance.
Moments later Chad Wingard slips loose to mark in the pocket and sticking out like a Zegna-suited Italian in the middle of a Walmart store, he somehow bends a centimetre-perfect banana straight through the middle from the impossible angle. What a gun he is.
Three-quarter time - Port lead by 11 but the Pies are coming
Port Adelaide 8.11 (59) vs Collingwood 7.6 (48)
Huge surprise: there was no further scoring in the final two and a half minutes. There might not be all night but we’re most definitely in for a tight finish and the Pies will be quietly confident they can pull this off. It’s become a bit of a slog but it’s going to be squeaky bum time within half an hour, I bet. Back in a minute with the final term.
Updated
Pies goal! 3rd quarter (2:35 remaining) Port Adelaide 8.11 (59) vs Collingwood 7.6 (48)
Ever tried to play a game of air hockey without air in the table? That’s what this game has become on account of the downpour. The ball won’t bounce properly. Players can’t get out of second gear. It’s football but only just. Port should probably just flood for the rest of the game. But they don’t and it’s to their discredit when Varcoe sprints inside an open 50 and manufactures a chance for Elliott to snap at goal only 15 metres out. Oh dear. He’s got it. Game on.
Pies goal! 3rd quarter (8:12 remaining) Port Adelaide 8.10 (58) vs Collingwood 6.6 (42)
I don’t want to sound like an ‘I told you so’ but I remain firm on that earlier belief that 10 goals will win this game. If Port only get 2 more, Collingwood might still need 7 to win it and that seems unlikely, even when Fasolo pegs one back here from 25 metres out, directly in front.
Port goal! 3rd quarter (9:12 remaining) Port Adelaide 8.10 (58) vs Collingwood 5.6 (36)
Now the Pies go forward, which reminds me briefly that Travis Cloke is actually playing in this game. He tumbles a centering snap into the corridor but Port clear it quickly to go into attack themselves. Ooh wow. Replays reveal that Taylor Adams will get a lot of attention from the MRP this weekend after an exchange with Westhoff. Did he drop a knee? I’m only asking, not suggesting anything...
Wayne Carey says Port are making it look like a dry-weather game. I wouldn’t go that far myself but at the moment they’re certainly handling the conditions better than the Pies. Right as I say that they stream forward but Adam Oxley misses an open goal on the run from 40 having never really looking confident in his own ability to finish it off.
As the rain continues to bucket down Robbie Gray nearly around the back of a contest to pinch a goal but the ball dribbles over the line before he can weave any more magic. It’s ugly stuff. Everyone else has probably switched to the cricket or Wimbledon. Not me though. I love this. I absolutely bloody love it. I can’t get enough of it. And I’ve got a second screen with the cricket on.
Then something happens! Yes! A glorious open goal from Chad Wingard! Is it worth 2? It’s probably worth 3 the way this game is going.
Power goal! 3rd quarter (18:12 remaining) Port Adelaide 7.6 (48) vs Collingwood 5.5 (35)
Aaand we’re back with some bleak news: the rain is bucketing down so hard that the umpires are throwing the ball up lest they embarrass themselves by bouncing it into puddles. There’s a bit of aggro out there, what’s more. Pushing, shoving and just like in Roman times, jumper-punching.
Did Romans ever play Aussie Rules? If they did I missed it. None of them can have been much better than Robbie Gray. He gets us off and going with a neat snap from 30 metres after a splendid string of Port handballs. Ollie Wines continues to dominate, in case you were wondering. He’s gone all SAS tonight. I think he spent the half-time break bench-pressing the team bus.
That first half in stats
The Pies really worked their way back into the contest in the first 15-20 minutes of the 2nd term and lead both contested possessions (+5), tackles (+13) and hit-outs (+7) but Port lead the all-important inside-50s (+11) and marks inside 50 (+5).
Port’s best were the tenacious Ollie Wines (19 touches, 4 I50s), Justin Westhoff (22 touches, 4 clearances, 4 tackles and a goal) and Travis Boak, who’s had it 17 times.
For the Pies, Dane Swan has 17 possessions (9 contested + 5 tackles), Taylor Adams 19 touches and 3 inside-50s, mainly on the outside, while Scott Pendlebury recovered from an anonymous start to end up with 16 for the half after being sparked into action by his goal.
Half-time - Port lead by 7 points
Port Adelaide 6.6 (42) vs Collingwood 5.5 (35)
The Pies came back into this game with a vengeance in the first 20 minutes of that term but the Power reloaded again in the final five. Wingard almost produced a gem when he tried to dribble a snap through along the ground but he found the woodwork, then Westhoff failed with a left-footed snap. In the end Collingwood improvised means of staving off another major.
Rain is tumbling down now at Adelaide Oval and we’ve got a ripping contest on our hands. I’ll be back shortly with some stats from that first half.
Power goal! 2nd quarter (3:56 remaining) Port Adelaide 6.4 (40) vs Collingwood 5.5 (35)
As this first half scrapes along towards its conclusion the rain and wind are starting to come into play. Goals will soon be worth double, not that you’d know it the way Fasolo butchers a gilt-edged chance on the run with barely a Port player in sight. At least Collingwood claim the lead for the first time in the game but that pleasure is a fleeting one, because Monfries gets on the end of the Power rebound to mark and then goal from 10 metres out. Port needed a steadying goal there and he’s produced just that.
Pies goal! 2nd quarter (7:17 remaining) Port Adelaide 5.4 (34) vs Collingwood 5.4 (34)
Jarman Impey is so exciting that even his misses are fun, as is the case when he fires a snap shot a metre wide here. Dane Swan can’t quite manage one either when he has a chance down the other end but he’s been his usual industrious self so far and with this game now a bit of an arm wrestle he’ll remain in the thick of the action.
After a sustained period of scrap the Port fans are livid when Jarryd Blair wins a shot on goal after more or less engineering a situation in which Pittard falls over his back but in what I as a neutral would call poetic justice, the resultant set shot is a poster. The Pies can’t be denied though and moments later we get another banana from straight on through Oxley, who replicates Impey’s earlier effort with interest. Unable to experience human joy, Wayne Carey just complains that he didn’t kick it on his left. Shut up Wayne, it was a belter. So is this game.
Pies goal! 2nd quarter (14:42 remaining) Port Adelaide 5.3 (33) vs Collingwood 4.2 (26)
Collingwood have another! Not even Jesse White could bungle this one, though he gives it a red hot go by almost having an air shot off the ground in the goal square. Did he even make contact? A shin maybe? It’s on the scoreboard either way. Somehow it’s back to a 7-point game.
Pies goal! 2nd quarter (15:21 remaining) Port Adelaide 5.3 (33) vs Collingwood 3.2 (20)
The Pies have settled well here. Now Elliott intercepts a kick-in and arrows a lovely left foot pass inside 50 to Jack Crisp. Crisp’s 40 metres out and not entirely sure of his kicking but eventually he goes back and boots it through the sticks. And to add to the good news the other Jack - Frost - is back on the ground.
Pies goal! 2nd quarter (16:33 remaining) Port Adelaide 5.3 (33) vs Collingwood 2.1 (13)
Some stats from the first quarter? Port Adelaide dominating inside-50s 17-5 and marks inside 50 by 6-1, as well as clearances 17-9. That’s a thumping. Ollie Wines had 11 touches in that opening term but it felt like 20 the way he was winning them. And only 4 were contested? Really? Just on that Collingwood sub call, it’s actually a 20-minute concussion substitution. He can come back at the 9-minute mark if he’s well enough.
Anyway, the second term starts in familiar style with Port going forward almost immediately and I’ve also just been handed a delicious chicken curry, which probably won’t have much impact on that forward entry but still feels like something you should know. You know what else you should know? Jarrod Witts doesn’t miss set shots from 20 metres out, not even on 45 degree angles. He dobs one here and the Pies claw back some of that worrying margin.
Quarter time - Port lead by 26 points
Port Adelaide 5.3 (33) vs Collingwood 1.1 (7)
That was a blazing start by the Power and with rain on the way a very handy lead to establish at the first break. Nathan Buckley is an angry, snarling man right now.
Power goal! 1st quarter (0:10 remaining) Port Adelaide 5.3 (33) vs Collingwood 1.1 (7)
The pace has backed off a bit now as the Pies try to put a dampener of their own on Port’s ascendancy. It’s all a bit scrappy though and again that man Ollie Wines lands a blow when he stops, props and snaps an inch-perfect pass into the corridor so that Wingard can mark 20 metres from goal. Wingard’s shot is from straight in front but again he misses the simple conversion. Oh dear. Port should be six goals up right now. Wines has brought his own footy with him - T.W. Wines.
SUB NEWS: Pies defensive linchpin Jack Frost has come a cropper and grabs the red vest, meaning Jordan de Goey is now in the game. Port will be rapt with that because it’ll stretch the Collingwood defense.
Worse still, with under a minute on the clock Port have another set shot at goal through Wingard and this time he drills it. That hurts.
Pies goal! 1st quarter (6:38 remaining) Port Adelaide 4.2 (26) vs Collingwood 1.1 (7)
The only thing standing in Port’s way right now is Port and finally the Pies take a mark inside 50 through Jesse White after an ugly Power turnover in the corridor. White’s only 30 metres out on a slight angle but he hooks it badly, prompting Nathan Buckley’s expression to head into Al Bundy on the couch territory.
Finally Collingwood break though and unsurprisingly it’s through a scrambled, unstructured pieces of play where Scott Pendlebury can wriggle free and snap on his right boot. I believe that was the skipper’s first touch of the game, so perhaps it was surprising in some senses. He’ll want to work his way into this game a lot more than that opening 15 minutes.
Power goal! 1st quarter (9:45 remaining) Port Adelaide 4.2 (26) vs Collingwood 0.0 (0)
Port go forward with murderous intent again, almost as though they’re trying to blow this game apart before the heavy rain arrives. It’s started spitting according to Matthew Richardson, who is a font of knowledge on many issues and that includes meteorology. Jay Schulz’s specialty is dobbing set shots from virtually any angle and faced with a tight one here from 40 metres out he does the improbably again. Port are on fire. Will the rain extinguish Collingwood?
Power goal! 1st quarter (12:07 remaining) Port Adelaide 3.2 (20) vs Collingwood 0.0 (0)
Once again Ollie Wines is in the thick of the action with an artless but impactful tackle before a hurried kick forward is marked by Wingard 30 metres out from goal. Nathan Buckley’s response? Five or six solid bashes of the phone on the desk. Wingard relieves his tension by spurning the chance but within a minute Justin Westhoff has snaffled a goal with a snap from 25 metres out. This is not quite going to my script. Port are toweling the Pies up here. The clearance count is 8-2 in favor of the home side. Smashed. Like Nathan Buckley’s phone.
Power goal! 1st quarter (14:24 remaining) Port Adelaide 2.1 (13) vs Collingwood 0.0 (0)
Ollie Wines is really taking this game by the scruff of the throat, literally in some instances. He wins another clearance through sheer bloody-mindedness and then acts as a link in the chain of everything else that’s happening before Clurey sends his side inside 50 for the net result of a rushed behind.
Port seem to be ‘on’ tonight, to get very technical on you. They’re running in waves and controlling the tempo of this clash before Jarman Impey does his thing in glorious style, gathering forty metres from goal, shimmying away from a Pies defender and then kicking a banana straight through the middle from right in front. That always looks far cooler than a drop punt. Well done that man.
Power goal! 1st quarter (17:44 remaining) Port Adelaide 1.0 (6) vs Collingwood 0.0 (0)
Travis Boak wins the toss for Port and we’re under way. The bounce favours Port and Ollie Wines is soon punting it deep inside 50 but Jay Schulz can’t quite clasp a crowd-lifting pack mark. They’re still getting involved though. The Pies swing it forward ineffectually and when the Power rebound they do so in devastating fashion. Robbie Gray wriggles free 15 metres from goal to snaffle a centering pass and makes no mistake to convert. The Power are away with the first of the game.
Vale Phil Walsh #sidebyside #weflyasone pic.twitter.com/SgIM42P6UV
— Collingwood FC (@CollingwoodFC) July 9, 2015
The teams are out on the ground
And as they go through their paces, Nathan Buckley stops by for a chat. He’s asked how the Pies can improve tonight. “Just the little things,” he says, “the basics. Taking opportunities when they’re there.” Buckley thinks his side is 3-4% off their best at the moment, which sounds quite confident to me but I’m no mathematician.
And Ken Hinkley? He’s happy with his side’s preparation. “They’re pretty bubbly... hopefully they’ll come out and play with a bit of spirit tonight which we’d be really proud of,” he says. He’s also wondering about the gloomy weather outlook. “I think the conditions might turn a bit as it goes,” he concludes.
As he does so there’s a Dane Swan tribute montage that’s being soundtracked by Jamie XX. I wonder what Dane Swan plays on his car stereo. Seems more like a David Guetta kind of guy to me.
A little more on the weather
...because everyone loves some weather chat. The Bureau of Meteorology is suggesting a 40% chance of showers tonight. If it happened to bucket down tonight you’d think it will hamper Collingwood’s forwards a little, because Pendlebury and co have done well to pick them out inside 50 this year. BUT...that’s not much comfort to Port because they’ve been dismal in the same area. 10 goals to either side could probably win it tonight.
250 games up for Dane Swan tonight
And we’re now approximately 25 minutes away from the first bounce. Gird your loins, grab your drinks and snacks and settle in for a primo night of sport. Footy, Ashes cricket, Wimbledon - I need another screen or two.
T-Minus 30 minutes #gopies pic.twitter.com/NbGRjYmQOP
— Collingwood FC (@CollingwoodFC) July 9, 2015
I think the March from the Mall is now over, but it’s certainly worthy of note tonight
The crowd chanting "Walshy" on the #MarchfromtheMall pic.twitter.com/St3zlzZ8CT
— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) July 9, 2015
Premable
Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleut sur la ville.
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénêtre mon coeur ?
Hello all and welcome to Thursday Night Football for Round 15 of this AFL season. I’m Russell Jackson, as you already know because you’ve got eyes and can see it at the top of the page. Those words above? Paul Verlaine. I recited them in a high school poetry reading once. Not very well as it turned out. What does it translate to?
It rains in my heart
As it rains on the town,
What languor so dark
That it soaks to my heart?
It’s raining in Adelaide tonight - not exactly prime conditions for an attractive game of football - but it’s also rained in our hearts all week since football lost Phil Walsh. He had a full decade at Port Adelaide, who valued his work immensely. Tonight they have a reasonable shot at knocking off Collingwood and they have everything to play for; the memory of their former colleague but also their finals chances. Magpieland is where Walsh’s career in the big-time began back in 1983 and Collingwood honor him tonight as well.
If you feel like getting in touch with any thoughts on tonight’s game you can get me on russell.jackson@theguardian.com
Let’s do this.
Your teams tonight
There was a late change for the Pies with running defender Marley Williams withdrawn due to a family bereavement. He’s replaced by ruckman Brodie Grundy. Port Adelaide come in unchanged from yesterday’s team list.
Port Adelaide
Cam O’Shea, Jack Hombsch, Jarman Impey, Tom Clurey, Jackson Trengove, Jasper Pittard, Matthew Broadbent, Robbie Gray, Brad Ebert, Angus Monfries, Justin Westhoff, Chad Wingard, Hamish Hartlett, Jay Schulz, Patrick Ryder, Matthew Lobbe, Travis Boak, Ollie Wines, Paul Stewart, Jake Neade, Karl Amon. SUB: Brendon Ah Chee
Collingwood
Tom Langdon, Nathan J. Brown, Alan Toovey, Jack Frost, Brayden Maynard, Adam Oxley, Dane Swan, Steele Sidebottom, Jamie Elliott, Jesse White, Tim Broomhead, Jarryd Blair, Travis Cloke, Darcy Moore, Jarrod Witts, Jack Crisp, Scott Pendlebury, Alex Fasolo, Taylor Adams, Travis Varcoe, Brodie Grundy. SUB: Jordan De Goey
Rusty will be here shortly tasked with guiding you through tonight’s events at Adelaide Oval.
It’ll be an emotional night for Port Adelaide, where Phil Walsh was a much-loved and respected assistant coach across 10 seasons. His former pupils have a stern test tonight because Collingwood have been excellent on the road all season.
