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Port Adelaide beat Gold Coast in AFL slog

3 minute read

Port Adelaide have defeated Gold Coast by 38 points in Sunday's AFL game at a rain-soaked Adelaide Oval.

TRAVIS BOAK of the Power passes the ball during the AFL match between the West Coast Eagles and the Port Adelaide Power at Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia.
TRAVIS BOAK of the Power passes the ball during the AFL match between the West Coast Eagles and the Port Adelaide Power at Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is lauding his players' second-half domination of Gold Coast in a slogging a 38-point AFL win.

The Power prevailed 13.11 (89) to 7.9 (51) on Sunday on a rain-soaked Adelaide Oval to climb back into the top eight.

Port ruthlessly demolished the Suns in the second half, kicking seven goals to one, and recording a whopping 44 inside 50s to nine.

"Forty-four entries to nine, by anyone's language, a pretty impressive performance by a good young group," Hinkley said.

Port's Travis Boak was best-afield with 36 disposals and fellow veteran Tom Rockliff (30 possessions) was influential.

Rockliff was reported for tripping Gold Coast's Anthony Miles, though replays show minimal, if any, contact between the pair in the second quarter incident.

But Port's fifth win of the season was largely built by the scoring power of a batch of younger players.

Second-gamer Billy Frampton booted three goals, as did seven-gamer Kane Farrell, while Connor Rozee, in his ninth game, kicked two.

The trio helped break the game open after an even first half when the unfancied Suns more than held their own.

In heavy rain which made ball-handling challenging, the Suns led by nine points at quarter-time, and were three up at halftime.

"We delivered what we wanted to on the first half," Suns coach Stuart Dew said.

But then Port took control or, as Dew put it: "They lifted and we didn't go with them."

"That is a learning experience there, but it's a harsh one," he said.

"We were second to the ball. That is why the game was played in their half, plain and simple."

The Suns still had a sniff at three quarter-time when 13 points down but Port sealed victory with 4.2 to one solitary point in the final term.

"Port came out after three quarter-time and they wanted the game more in the first five minutes and we weren't able to arrest it back," Dew said.

"That is where we will focus a fair bit on, who was rowing the boat in the second half.

Gold Coast slipped to a fifth consecutive loss despite another standout performance from Brayden Fiorini, who gathered a game-high 38 disposals.

Port play Hawthorn in Tasmania next Saturday afternoon while the Suns host ladder leaders Geelong on Saturday night.

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