Australian Football

Match Report

It only took until the third match of the 2017 AFL season for the first upset of the season to occur, and it was a major upset at that. Very few tipsters would have given Port Adelaide any chance of a win against last year's Grand Finalists Sydney, but the Power were switched on from the start and, after Sam Reid some Reid took a strong mark to give the Swans the first goal of the match, Port held sway for much of the rest of the afternoon to record a shock 28-point win at the SCG.

After Reid had kicked that opening goal, Port Adelaide attacked incessantly for the next 12 minutes to score three goals - the first to Jackson Trengove and then the next couple to Charlie Dixon - and set up a two-goal lead. The Swans pulled one back with a goal to Daniel Robinson and then Lance Franklin and Reid added another brace of majors to see Sydney regain the lead late in the term. Port hit back just before the siren, though, with first-gamer Sam Powell-Pepper kicking a goal with his first kick in league football. At the first break, Sydney held a slender one-point lead.

Any thought of Port being a one-quarter wonder quickly disappeared when the second term began, as Aaron Young and Travis Boak added goals within the first two minutes to grab an 11-point lead. Reid's second saw the margin back to five points and Franklin also kicked a second goal soon after and the Swans were back in front after 12 minutes. They extended their lead to eight points with Josh Kennedy's first goal at the 18-minute mark. The Power hit their straps in time on, though, and kicked three goals to one in that period - two to Chad Wingard - to take a four-point lead into the long break.

Boak opened the scoring in the third term with a goal to Boak but Franklin's third at the three-minute mark had Sydney back within four points. Byrne-Jones for Port and Tippett for Sydney traded further goals but the the Power took charge after that and majors to Karl Amon, Powell-Pepper and Aaron Young saw Port break away to lead by 22 points at the last change of ends. 

Franklin gave the Swans a sniff with his fourth goal three minutes into the final term but Port - as it had done all game - responded almost immediately, a major to Polec restoring the 22-point advantage. Kieran Jack again reduced the margin to 16 at the seven-minute mark but neither side could manage anything other than behinds for the next 18 minutes and Port 'sealed the deal' with two final goals to Hamish Harlett and Wingard to complete a resounding win for the Power.

Port's best included Brad Ebert (11 tackles, 25 disposals) and Ollie Wines (33 possessions, five tackles), while Kennedy (28 touches and nine tackles) and Franklin (four goals, seven marks) did their best to keep Sydney in the game.

The Power will look to make it two in a row when they host Fremantle at Adelaide Oval next Sunday while Sydney will need an improved showing against its Grand Final vanquishers the Bulldogs on Friday night if it is to avoid a zero-two start to the year.

GOALS
Sydney: Franklin 4; Reid 3; Robinson, Kennedy, Jones, Tippett, Jack
Port Adelaide: Young, Wingard 3; Boak, Powell-Pepper, Dixon 2; Trengove, Byrne-Jones, Amon, Polec, Hartlett

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Sydney: Kennedy, Franklin, Jones, Grundy, Parker, Reid
Port Adelaide: Wines, Boak, Ebert, Wingard, Powell-Pepper, Ryder

BEST - THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Sydney: Kennedy, Franklin, Naismith, Jones, Jack, Reid
Port Adelaide: Ebert, Dixon, Young, Wines, Boak, Houston, Powell-Pepper

INJURIES
Sydney: Dan Robinson (shoulder)
Port Adelaide: Nil

UMPIRES: Hosking, Ryan, Mollison

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COMMENTATORS: Anthony Hudson, Jason Dunstall, Jonathan Brown, Cameron Mooney