Port Adelaide’s brigade of youngsters lead the way despite loss

Although a shameful loss, Port Adelaide fans have plenty to be excited about with an emerging forward duo set to feature going forward.

Coming into their clash against West Coast, Port Adelaide Coach Ken Hinkley backed Mitch Georgiades and Todd Marshall to test the opposition’s backline.

With Charlie Dixon silenced by Eagles duo Tom Barrass and Jeremy McGovern, it was their responsibility to hit the scoreboard.

Teenager Mitch Georgiades took advantage of the limited supply into Port’s forward 50 to create opportunities and secure two goals. His partner in crime Todd Marshall also looked composed upon return from injury, slotting three of his own.

Despite the result, Hinkley’s experiment was relatively successful as Georgiades and Marshall stood tall in the face of a thrashing.

Hinkley saw positive signs from both the young forwards tonight, and is eager to keep persisting with the duo

“We want to see them play more games together, clearly.” he told The Inner Sanctum.

“They looked likely at times. They’re both young and Mitch is really young.

“He’s [Georgiades] played very little footy and he’s a dangerous player to play against.

“We think together they can be really successful.”

Upon return from injury, Connor Rozee’s work rate to create goal opportunities was ceaseless with seven score involvements and three inside 50s.

Fellow 2018 draftee Xavier Duursma covered ground at an impressive speed, using the ball cleanly and finished with 14 contested possessions.

Although West Coast controlled the game in the first half, the Power fought back in the second half in an attempt to redeem themselves.

“They played the game they wanted to play in the first half really successfully. They brought real hunt to the contest. We were beaten really badly around the contest in all areas around the ground, not just one area,” Hinkley said.

“We got some contest back into our game, credit to our blokes at least. They stuck at it.

“Played out a reasonably solid second half, but we didn’t bring the hunt we wanted right at the start – and we know the challenge coming here.

“Ollie and Trav [Ollie Wines and Travis Boak] and a couple of the boys got fairly stuck at their task in the the second half. It’s disappointing to lose as bad as we did, but it could have got way worse the way it was heading.

“We’ve come here in the past and done it successfully, but tonight they were able to put our stamp on the game early – that separated the two teams.”

In the forward line, former Bomber Orazio Fantasia hit the scoreboard three times and Robbie Gray twice. In the middle, Karl Amon worked hard to gather 23 possessions, eight marks and lay five tackles.

Midfielders Travis Boak, Ollie Wines and Willem Drew elevated after half time, giving the Power a much needed lift.

Dan Houston put plenty of pressure on West Coast’s forward line, but couldn’t hold off their onslaught of inside 50s.

Confidence unwavered, Hinkley seees this loss as a learning opportunity ahead of their clash at home against Richmond next week.

“We’ll learn a lot from what happened tonight – we’re still a pretty good team,” he said.

“We love the challenge each week.”

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