Australian Football

Match Report

We cross over to Richmond and head to the City Mazda Stadium for some Friday Night Mayhem between the Bloods and the Magpies. The black & whites haven't had a lot of luck against the Bloods over the past few seasons, but managed to put one over them in their last clash. It was the final match of the 2012 regular season where the 'Pies finished the year on a high with a 45 point victory at Alberton, their fourth victory from the previous 11 games. The Magpies' last win at Richmond came in mid-2011, dealing out a 66-point hiding. They were punished at Alberton only two weeks ago by the Bulldogs after being competitive early on while the Bloods smacked the Tigers in their match before the interstate weekend.

Both sides were horribly inaccurate early on, both kicked four behinds each but Port's two majors to West's single goal would have the visitors up by six points at the first change. The goals were more frequent in the second term though as the Bloods evened things up by the half-time break after kicking 4.2 to 3.2. The alarm bells would have been ringing loudly after that, especially as those four goals to West were part of a five-minute extra-time run! The Bloods asserted themselves in the third quarter, although the inaccuracy bug crept back in a little bit they still took a 21-point lead going into the final change after kicking 4.4 while keeping the Magpies to 1.1. Port would throw everything at the Bloods in the last quarter, but the West Adelaide defence held up firm enough to ensure victory. The Magpies' 3.1 to Westies' 2.1 would bring the final deficit back to 15 points.

Ben Macreadie was named best for the Bloods, while Samuel Gray took best afield votes for Port.