Round 6
	V
Port Adelaide 14.6 (90)		West Coast 11.13 (79)

Port Adelaide has notched up its fourth consecutive win with a resounding 54-point victory over the West Coast Eagles at Football Park on Sunday. The Eagles fought back well after a slow start but failed to maintain their momentum after half-time when a pumped-up Power side finished off the game in style recording a 20.13 (133) to 11.13 (79) victory.

With its own slow starts becoming a major issue, the Power was primed for a quick start and it did just that - dominating the centre square and firing the ball into the attacking 50 with apparent ease. The Eagles beat the seemingly unbeatable last week with their lion-taming win over Brisbane but appeared to have left their tough, disciplined game back home in Perth as the Power piled on eight first-quarter goals and enjoyed a 44-point lead at the first break.

However, with West Coast looking down the barrel of an almighty thumping, the game underwent an amazing transformation as the second quarter progressed. The Eagles midfield finally sputtered into life with Michael Gardiner giving Ben Cousins and Michael Braun first use of the ball which they used with telling effect. The deficit was reduced to a mere 14 points at half-time as West Coast outscored a stunned Power side seven goals to two.

With the half-time break to regroup, Port regained its composure and reasserted its dominance in the centre with Nick Stevens and Josh Francou prominent. The Eagles could manage only three goals after the main break with all of those coming in the final term. The Power simply had too many scoring options and finished off the Eagles in clinical fashion. Warren Tredrea provided an attacking focal point all day and finished the match with five goals, while Che Cockatoo-Collins and Stuart Dew lurked dangerously across half-forward and contributed three goals each.

After the match, Mark Williams was suitably impressed with the output of his forward line. "I thought the forwards really stood up," he said. "There were some important goals to be kicked and I thought they really kicked those (type of) goals, which is the difference between average and really good players." And with Port having to play catch up footy after slow starts in recent weeks, Williams was happy with his side's ability to put West Coast under early scoreboard pressure. "It was a great start to the game. We put a real focus on that this week and the boys really came out and (put in) one of the best quarters they've played in a long time."

However, with a tough road trip to Brisbane looming this week, Williams warned that a more sustained effort was required. "We'll have to play at our absolute best. We certainly couldn't go in and play two quarters and think that we'd even go near them. We have to play four hard quarters against them but if we do that I think we'll be in the ballpark." Despite the size of the final margin, Eagles coach John Worsfold was reasonably pleased with his side's efforts after quarter-time. "I was disappointed with our start to the game today, but after that I thought the boys were pretty good … It was a really good effort from them to fight back like that but unfortunately in the last 15 minutes of the game they kicked away from us and blew the score out." Worsfold has focused on improving the Eagles' endeavour this year but their deficiency in this area during the fist term proved costly. "In that first quarter we were embarrassed by Port Adelaide winning so much of the footy," he said. "That was an endeavour thing, there's no doubt about that … but to fight back like they did after quarter-time and throughout that second quarter - that showed a lot of endeavour."

FOOTY REPORT ARCHIVE

Click here to read in depth, sometimes controversial, but always thought provoking previous round reports...