VelvetSledge
Moderator
- May 24, 2007
- 17,636
- 35,882
- AFL Club
- Essendon
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- Liverpool FC, Melbourne Storm
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- #1
PORT ADELAIDE
A thrilling encounter against another premiership chance, and the Power came up just short in a game where the margin never got beyond three goals.
Port's engine room performed well to try and quell Max Gawn's influence, with Boak, Wines, Butters and Rozee all getting to be among the most influential players on the ground.
Byrne-Jones, Finlayson, and that little tip-rat Rioli all scored two goals, and it seemed like a game where the smalls would dominate.
Byrne-Jones, McEntee, and Evans all scored goals in the first 15 minutes and it looked like it would be all over soon.
To the Dees credit, they scored the next three majors, only for Dixon to nail a set shot after the quarter-time siren.
Ratugolea's goal-line blunder really summed up his time in Geelong, and probably wouldn't have felt too good for Port fans considering how easy it would have been for him to spoil it. Especially when you consider how close the final margin was.
Charlie Dixon is looking dynamic; while he didn't get a huge score on the night, he grabbed everything and looked as aggressive as he ever has.
PORT ADELAIDE 13.11 89
def. by
MELBOURNE 15.6 96
BEST: Drew, Soldo, Houston, Rozee, Butters
GOALS: Byrne-Jones, Finlayson, Rioli 2, Dixon, Soldo, Houston, Marshall, Rozee, Evans, McEntee
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ESSENDON
Hahahaha PACKOOOO.
What a thriller. Most of the game was plagued with horrific skill errors from both sides, but in the end it was the Dons coming away with a huge victory in an upset.
Bad kicking is bad footy, and the Saints only have themselves to blame in a case of death by a thousand cuts.
It took until the final 15 minutes, but we finally got it together and ran the Saints ragged, with Jake Stringer taking the final shot at goal with 6 minutes to go and nailing it from close to the boundary, 55m out.
Xavier Duursma had his best game in red and black, with a tide-turning goal early in the game and a huge match-saving tackle on Rowan Marshall in the final term. He even got back to the goal line and spoiled what was almost a certain goal.
Zach Merrett is a football god. He's just so good. He doesn't have bad games anymore.
Nic Martin equalled the all-time Essendon possession count with 44, but didn't do too much with it - a few of his normally precision kicks were wayward and there were some hurried decisions.
Andy McGrath has been extremely good so far in 2024; his rushed kicks are becoming rarer and he's often taking the right choice instead of the easy one.
This was Harry Jones' best game in years. Flew for everything, took a ton of marks, and slotted two goals. He's a confidence player, and should take a ton of confidence from that.
Sam Durham copped a blow to the head and then got crunched in a rough tackle, seeing him subbed out and placed into concussion protocols.
Jack Higgins pees sitting down.
ESSENDON 10.11 71
def.
ST KILDA 9.13 67
BEST: Merrett, Heppell, Martin, McGrath, Duursma, Stringer
GOALS: Stringer, Langford 3, Jones 2, McGrath, Duursma
PORT ADELAIDE OUTS: Ollie Wines (Hamstring), Francis Evans (Omitted)
PORT ADELAIDE INS: Jason Horne-Francis, Mitch Georgiades
ESSENDON OUTS: Sam Durham (Concussion)
ESSENDON INS: Will Setterfield
ROUND 16, 2023
MCG
1/7/2023
ESSENDON 10.14 74
def. by
PORT ADELAIDE 11.12 78
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ESSENDON GOALS: Langford 3, Guelfi, Caldwell 2, Stringer, Laverde, Martin
PORT ADELAIDE GOALS: Rozee 3, Dixon, Byrne-Jones, Finlayson, Burton, Houston, Narkle, Farrell, Butters
ESSENDON BEST: Merrett, Parish, Caldwell, Hobbs, Phillips
PORT ADELAIDE BEST: Houston, Rozee, Farrell, Williams, Butters
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CHANGES SINCE LAST TIME:
ESSENDON OUTS: Weideman, Snelling, Phillips, Zerk-Thatcher, Ridley, Durham, Wright, Shiel
ESSENDON INS: McKay, Draper, Goldstein, Setterfield, Gresham, Duursma, Jones, Cox, Hind
PORT ADELAIDE OUTS: Wines, Powell-Pepper, Bonner, McKenzie, Visentini, Williams, Narkle
PORT ADELAIDE INS: Ratugolea, Zerk-Thatcher, Soldo, Georgiades, Jones, Rioli, Burgoyne
It's hard to see either side coming away with a huge margin here. Over the start of the 2024 season, Port and Essendon have been the best-performing midfield groups, so that's where the ascendancy will be wrought. Whoever wins in the guts will win the game. The Demons showed us that there is blood in the water and Port aren't invincible at Adelaide Oval; we just need to put our collective feet on the accelerator and never let up.
Essendon by 2.
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go the red smoke.
