Round 4
	V
Port Adelaide 23.10 (148)		Carlton 14.11 (95)

After a slow start to the season, the Power has continued its return to form with a hard-fought win over Carlton at Football Park today. After scores were level at half-time, an unanswered seven-goal burst at the start of the third quarter gave the Power a lead that it never surrendered, eventually winning by 53 points, 23.10 (148) to 14.11 (95).

With both sides looking to play accountable football, the first half was a stop-start affair as the ball carrier was often confronted by a crowded forward line ahead of him. Congestion around the ball led to multiple stoppages with both sides guilty of some poor decision-making and basic skill errors in near-perfect conditions for football. Power fans were horrified to see inspirational captain Matthew Primus pull up in obvious pain and clutching his left knee in the opening minutes of the match. He left the field soon after and went straight up the race to receive treatment on what was later confirmed to be a corked knee. He returned to the field but left the ground for good in the third term. Club doctors will monitor him during the week but he is not expected to miss next week's clash with the Crows.

The game underwent a transformation after half-time with the Power able to adopt a more free-flowing, running style of play that saw them pile on 16 goals in the second half. Adam Kingsley, Josh Francou and Nick Stevens were instrumental in the Power's second-half surge, as was Gavin Wanganeen who had a quiet first half but cut the dangerous Brett Ratten out of the game after half-time. Carlton surprised the parochial home crowd by charging out of the blocks as the final term got underway, slamming through three unanswered goals in the first five minutes, but Port soon regained the ascendancy finishing the game off in fine style.Many at the ground would have felt Port's seven-goal burst in the third quarter was the turning point in the game but Carlton coach Wayne Brittain begged to differ. "The key moment to me was probably just before half time. I felt we should have gone in two or three goals in front at half time. McKernan had a mark disallowed, it went up the other end and Port Adelaide kicked a goal…it was a two goal turnaround. After a slow start and having to play catch-up footy I thought we got ourselves into a position where we probably should have been two (goals) in front at half-time," he said.

"I didn't think we deserved to be on the end of a nine-goal thumping…I thought we were a bit better than that so I was disappointed, but I think there's a lot of promising things there to work with."

After the match Power coach Mark Williams was pleased with his side's ability to tidy up its game after a sloppy first half. "To kick 16 goals after half-time is very, very significant. I thought that we had many turnovers in the first half that really cost us and butchered a lot of our movement forward and in the second half we cleaned that up a lot. It was a good effort for our players to have the confidence in themselves to be able to turn around a pretty average sort of half," he said. In an ominous sign for opposition teams, Williams warned that his side was still a long way from playing its best footy. "We've got a lot of improvement to go, without any doubt. There were some great (individual) games today, a lot of players played really well for the whole game, a lot of players played cameo halves and if we can get those halves to become full games it'll be a dream and the coaching staff and players will continue to look for that."

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