Port Power beat North Melbourne with 21 point win
It was an elimination final in all but name on Sunday afternoon as Port hosted the Roos.
Led by former Roo, Jason Horne-Francis, the Power got over the line in a scrappy game of football, 10.13.73 to 7.10.52, a 21-point win.
With the margin at seven-points with six minutes left, Jack Whitlock went and sealed the game for Port Adelaide.
After getting his arm chopped, the 20-year-old steered the ball home. After three quarters, North and Port couldn’t be separated.
It was a nervy start to the last quarter, devolving into something akin to the first term.
However, Port were pressing, locking the ball inside their forward 50, but struggling to convert.
North were struggling to exit defensive 50 in the last, Colby McKercher turned the ball over in the middle of the ground for the first of the quarter.
Corey Durdin put through a dribbling effort after a forward 50 stoppage.
Mitch Georgiades had a good afternoon but, as has been the case all year, he missed his most important kick of the afternoon.
But Whitlock finally drove the ball home, and the home fans could breathe a sigh of relief.
Earlier, it was a sloppy, messy, low-scoring, scrap of a first quarter, with the game tied at 1.3.9 apiece at the first break.
In a quarter that wasn’t making anyone’s highlight reel, Jason Horne-Francis started well for Port, while Harry Sheezel got things moving for the Roos, while George Wardlaw had three tackles in a fantastic defensive display.
On the injury front, Mitch Georgiades collected an elbow to the back of the head from Sheezel, but was fine.
The second term looked a repeat of the first, until the home side finally powered on, with Georgiades releasing Jack Whitlock into an open goal midway through the term.
From there, Port had North Melbourne stopped, as they kicked another four goals to close out the term.
Horne-Francis continued his good work with four second-quarter clearances as he answered his critics, while Zak Butters joined the former number one pick with 14 disposals in the half.
Port were brutal out of the middle, as they won the clearance count 12 to three for the quarter.
North started the third quarter better than Port, led by Harry Sheezel, whose sixth minute goal cut the half-time lead of 19 points to 12.
Heading into red-time of the third term, Sheezel had already had eight disposals, a goal and two clearances in the term, as he almost single-handly put the Roos back into the fight.
Once the Roos run on started, they were hard to stop, North closed the clearance gap from nine to four, while they generated four more inside 50s across the term.
Despite the Roos momentarily hitting the lead, it was Horne-Francis who dropped a long bomb to tie up the score at three-quarter-time.
Port: 1.3 5.6 7.9 10.13.73
North: 1.3 2.5 7.9 7.10.52
Port: Whitlock 3, Georgiades 3, Sweet, Mead, Horne-Francis, Durdin
North: Darling 2, Simpkin, Sheezel, McKercher, Larkey, Davis-Uniacke
Best, (alphabetical order):
Port: D. Byrne-Jones, J. Horne-Francis, O. Wines,
North: L. Davies-Uniacke, H. Sheezel, G. Wardlaw
Injuries:
North: Wardlaw (left hamstring)
Crowd: 33,105