Records threatened as Port powers over wasteful Demons
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Mitch Georgiades finished one goal shy of Port Adelaide's single-game individual record as the Power's post-bye reset continued to gather momentum – likely dousing Melbourne's finals hopes in the process.
Georgiades had a realistic shot of enjoying a bumper double-figure day out, before ultimately settling for 7.4, on Steven May no less.
Warren Tredrea (1998) and Jay Schulz (2014) jointly hold the record with eight-goal hauls in 1998 and 2014, respectively.
Esava Ratugolea's seven intercept marks in the opening half also had threatened a record-book rewrite – the AFL record is 10 – while Jason Horne-Francis's 20-disposal first half lit up Adelaide Oval before a shoulder injury ended his day early.
Melbourne conceded costly goals after each of the first three end-of-quarter sirens, while their method moving forward was diabolical early, allowing Ratugolea to feast on one errant entry after another.
The Demons botched a chance to pinch the lead at the 10-minute mark of the second term when Christian Petracca pulled out of a chance to mark a Kane Farrell's torp, switching to the member's side deep in defence.
Petracca – who sustained a lacerated spleen, four broken ribs and a punctured lung in the King's Birthday clash last year – let the ball land rather than trying for the mark back with the flight as Darcy Byrne-Jones and Sam Powell-Pepper honed in.
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"Mitch kicked 7.4 and might not have been best on ground," Hinkley said, "It was really pleasing for Esava, particularly, to play that way. "He has played a really strong year. You can see him grow with confidence. "And then for Mitch to do what he did on a high quality opponent ... that's a big number in the AFL; 7.4 is a really big number now. "It was a different way for us to win when we were strong at both ends of the ground." Hinkley described Ratugolea, who arrived at Port at the end of 2023 after six years at Geelong, as "a little bit of a doubter". "He's the bloke who wants to do everything right by the team, he's such a carer," Hinkley said. "You can see when he occasionally makes a mistake, that he feels that a bit too much - he's just got to let them go. "He's learning to do that much better. So I was just really pleased for him to be that dominant." For Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley, this win was different. 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"Mitch kicked 7.4 and might not have been best on ground," Hinkley said, "It was really pleasing for Esava, particularly, to play that way. "He has played a really strong year. You can see him grow with confidence. "And then for Mitch to do what he did on a high quality opponent ... that's a big number in the AFL; 7.4 is a really big number now. "It was a different way for us to win when we were strong at both ends of the ground." Hinkley described Ratugolea, who arrived at Port at the end of 2023 after six years at Geelong, as "a little bit of a doubter". "He's the bloke who wants to do everything right by the team, he's such a carer," Hinkley said. "You can see when he occasionally makes a mistake, that he feels that a bit too much - he's just got to let them go. "He's learning to do that much better. So I was just really pleased for him to be that dominant."
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