Australian Football

Match Report

The entire programme for the weekend would be played out on the Saturday afternoon, starting with the Battle of the Birds at the Maughan Thiem Kia Oval between the Eagles and the Magpies. These two feathery rivals of Port Road last met little more than a month ago in Round 8, where the Eagles almost bottled it before emerging victorious. The Magpies had only themselves to blame of course, their accuracy on goal was just woeful and were trailing by 16 points at the final change after kicking 2.10. They had some tit-for-tat in the final term, with Port bagging a quartet of goals over seven minutes to snag the lead in early in injury time. But the final decisive blow came with the last score of the game, the Eagles landing one last major to escape with a three-point win. Their fortunes have taken a dive since that win, dropping the three games in between including last week's against a resurgent Panthers at Woodville, while the Magpies climbed to fourth with victory over West. The Magpies started with a bang with a major on the board after just 17 seconds, but would be down by five points at quarter-time as the Eagles scored 3.1 to 2.2 to kick things off. The Eagles dominated the first 12 minutes to take their advantage out to 19 points, but the 'Pies would do so over the remaining minutes, allowing the Eagles just one further behind. All scores counted the Magpies kicked 4.2 to 2.3 to go into the rooms at the long break with a six-point lead. With more than a few newcomers into the side, the Eagles were going to find it difficult to maintain their intensity against a side fielding at least a dozen AFL-listed players. All things considered, they were not going too badly but things were about to swing the Magpies way. When play resumed, the Eagles managed to get level after 10 minutes after conceding the opening goal. But they were back behind the eight-ball soon afterwards and would find themselves adrift by 13 points after a 4.1 to three goal third term. The visitors then had the life strangled out of them in the final term, held scoreless by the Magpies as they kicked 3.5 on their way to a six-goal victory. Jackson Mead was Port's best all-round man, notching up 26 disposals, eight tackles and six clearances. Young gun Max Beattie was the Eagles' best, with 26 disposals, 12 tackles and six marks.