- Nov 25, 2019
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- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide will play its first home game of the season against Hawthorn at 7:10 ACDT on Saturday at Adelaide Oval. The game will honour the life and legacy of club legend Russell Ebert.
Head to Head
The overall win loss record sits at 21 Wins and 16 Losses against Hawthorn. In the last 5 games Port Adelaide has won three and Hawthorn 2.
Last time the two teams met Port Adelaide defeated Hawthorn by 34 points at Marvel Stadium in Shaun Burgoyne’s 400th AFL game. Notably (and unfortunately somewhat predictably) Port Adelaide got out to a 42 point lead at half-time before losing momentum and missing out on a massive victory. Ollie Wines was best on ground with 43 disposals and 14 clearances in that game. Charlie Dixon kicked 4 goals.
Form
Port Adelaide is coming off a gruelling 11 point loss to Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday evening. After leading late in the game by 24 points, Port succumbed to a mounting injury toll and the harsh conditions to concede the lead and ultimately the game to Brisbane late in the 4th. Dan Houston had his best game for the club with 36 disposals and two games. Ryan Burton did an exceptional blanket job on Charlie Cameron who had minimal impact on the game. Aliir, Duursma, McKenzie, Rozee and Gray all had injury concerns during the game, although it appears only Aliir at the moment is guaranteed out for this game with Syndesmosis.
Hawthorn beat wooden spoon favourites North Melbourne by 20 points at the MCG on Sunday afternoon to mark the start of new coach Sam Mitchell’s reign. Hawthorn were behind at half time but pulled ahead in the third quarter to get out to a comfortable winning margin. Tom Mitchell had 29 disposals and 4 clearances. James Sicily had a successful return from an ACL to have 27 disposals and 7 intercepts. Max Lynch was subbed out with concussion and will be unable to play in this game under concussion protocols. Hawthorn were missing Luke Breust and Ben McEvoy under health and safety protocols and it seems likely they will slot straight back in this week.
Danger Men
Hawthorn surprisingly don’t have too many players who play exceptionally well against Port Adelaide. In fact, according to the AFL Player Ratings they only have 4 players who perform better against Port Adelaide than their career average (excluding players who have played less than three games). Former Port Adelaide player Jarman Impey performs 20% better against Port Adelaide than other teams. Jack Gunston performs 9% better than average, Daniel Howe 3% better and Ben McEvoy is even at his average performance. The remaining players have performed worse than their overall average performance.
Ones to Watch
Conversely, Port Adelaide has 6 players who perform better than their overall average. Karl Amon loves playing against Hawthorn - he performs 36% better than his average against the Hawks. Travis Boak performs 17% better, Robbie Gray 13% better and Sam Powell Pepper 10% better.
Keys to the Game
Historically Clarkson’s Hawthorn was a team that was heavily reliant on efficiency rather than contested ball winning and clearance winning. Teams that could monopolise the ball and use it efficiently going forward while pressuring the Hawks into mistakes when they were going the other way usually won. Mitchell’s Hawthorn… who knows?
We do know that Port Adelaide usually wins when winning the contested possession count, so it is safe to say that winning the contest will be very important.
Prediction
Hawthorn will most likely be in better shape from an injury perspective. Although Port Adelaide rarely loses at home against bottom 8 teams. I’m going for a 21 point win to Port.
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