PORT Adelaide has produced a dominant first half to spoil Hawthorn champion Shaun Burgoyne’s milestone match with a comfortable 34-point win.
Burgoyne became just the fifth player in AFL/VFL history to reach 400 games and the achievement was appropriately celebrated during the build-up.
But it was the four-time premiership player’s former team the Power that found more reasons to cheer at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
Strong on-baller Ollie Wines led the way as Port laid an early platform for a 13.9 (87) to 7.11 (53) victory that saw them reclaim their spot in the top four.
There was a sour note for Ken Hinkley’s side, who lost Kane Farrell to a serious knee injury during the first quarter.
Burgoyne was relatively quiet at half-back for Hawthorn with 11 disposals but drifted forward late and almost produced a goal when his snap in the dying stages fell wide.
“It’s been a big week and an enjoyable one,” Burgoyne told Seven post-match.
“It would’ve been really good to get the victory tonight but Port Adelaide were far too good … that’s the way things go sometimes.”
Wines (43 disposals and 13 clearances) continued his outstanding season with a tough performance in the clinches alongside Power teammate Travis Boak (27 and nine).
Port had plenty of options in attack, where Charlie Dixon (four), Todd Marshall, Sam Mayes and Miles Bergman (two each) all kicked multiple goals.
Connor Rozee drew the ire of Hawks fans for exaggerating contact from Blake Hardwick to win a free kick but had the last laugh when he kicked a goal in the final minute.
Midfielder James Worpel had 23 disposals, nine clearances, eight tackles and a goal as one of the Hawks’ best and Tom Mitchell gathered 29 touches and eight clearances.
Farrell’s replacement Martin Frederick won’t forget his first AFL goal in a hurry.
In his sixth game, Frederick side-stepped Burgoyne and finished superbly on the run as Port booted three in a row to take a 10-point lead to the first change.
They kicked another five unanswered majors in the second term and led disposals (196-138), contested possessions (85-61), clearances (24-14) and inside-50s (31-13) by huge margins at halftime.
Hawthorn kicked the first goal of the night through Luke Breust four minutes in but didn’t manage another until the nine-minute mark of the third term.
They won the third quarter – 3.3 to 1.2 – but the damage had been done by the early stages of that term when Port opened up a 48-point lead.
(C) AAP 2021
PORT ADELAIDE 3.2 8.5 9.7 13.9 (87)
HAWTHORN 1.4 1.5 4.8 7.11 (53)
Goals: Port Adelaide: C Dixon 4 M Bergman 2 S Mayes 2 T Marshall 2 C Rozee M Frederick M Georgiades. Hawthorn: L Breust 2 D Howe J Koschitzke J O’Meara J Worpel T O’Brien.
Umpires: Robert Findlay, Andrew Stephens, Nick Brown.
Venue: Marvel Stadium.
