Richmond defeats Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in Round 8 in Kane Cornes’ 300th and farewell matchRichard Earle
Adelaide Advertiser
May 24, 2015 9:30PMRICHMOND played party pooper and ruined Kane Cornes’ retirement show as Port Adelaide’s slump from flag contender to pretender continued at Adelaide Oval.
The Power’s erratic season reached a new low as it embarrassingly kicked just five goals in Cornes’ 300th and final game to crash to a third consecutive defeat against teams it was expected to beat — West Coast, Brisbane and now the Tigers by 33 points.
Port’s top four hopes are on life support — and even its finals hopes in jeopardy — after it failed to honour a retiring hero in the right manner.
It now has a 3-5 record and has amazingly fallen to a lowly 13th.
Nothing went to script for Ken Hinkley’s outfit which owed retiring Cornes, who became the first man to play 300 games for the Power, a fitting finale in his last game before joining the SA Metropolitan Fire Service.
It trailed from the six-minute mark of the opening quarter to the final siren as its game plan fell apart amid some shocking decision making and poor skill errors.
Port’s run-and-gun game — so exciting and the key to making last year’s preliminary final — is gone and its confidence appears shot.
Even easy goals are being missed, with the usually reliable Jay Schulz and Chad Wingard missing simple chances.
Cornes played his role, adding another scalp to his belt by restricting Richmond captain Trent Cotchin to 17 disposals while having 28 touches himself.
At age 32, he was the Power’s best player.
“I’m a little disappointed to leave the boys like this, they are in a little bit of a hole at the moment but it’s been a great journey,’’ Cornes said as he was chaired off Adelaide Oval by captain Travis Boak and Angus Monfries.
“I’ve lived the dream.’’
While Cornes could hold his head high in his final game, he was given little support from teammates in what was an indictment on a club which is suddenly and surprisingly in trouble in a season which started with such high expectations.
Boak battled tirelessly for 32 disposals, Robbie Gray (28) was good and Ollie Wines — returning from a dislocated wrist — played well but there was too much left to too few.
In contrast, Richmond had winners everywhere, with full forward Jack Riewoldt (four goals) the dominant forward on the ground and runners Brandon Ellis (30 disposals), Dustin Martin (29) and Brett Deledio (28) all winning plenty of the ball.
Port’s five goals followed a total of 18 in its previous two defeats, illustrating that it has lost the ability to move the ball and score freely.
The result showed how far the Power has slumped.
In the previous meeting between the clubs at Adelaide Oval in last year’s elimination final Port won by 57 points after a brilliant eight-goal first term.
Cornes tossed the coin with Cotchin before the game and then ran from the wing to sit on him as soon as the ball was bounced.
He took just 40 seconds to win a disposal, pinging Cotchin for holding the ball.
But it was the Tigers who jumped out of the blocks.
They booted the only three goals of the first term to break to a 19-point lead with Deledio and Brandon Ellis (10 disposals) and Shaun Grigg (nine) prolific.
The Tigers dominated to such an extent they had 18 inside-50s to the Power’s nine, forcing Port coach Ken Hinkley to employ key forward Justin Westhoff as a loose man in defence to stop the bleeding.
Port appeared to wake from its slumber in the second term, kicking its first goal within 30 seconds of the re-start after Wines set up Chad Wingard with a centre bounce breakaway.
But Richmond steadied to open up a 23-point lead at half-time.
The Power dominated the third term, keeping the Tigers scoreless with a 14-5 inside 50 differential, but couldn’t make big inroads into the deficit.
Port kicked 1.4 from its 14 forward 50 entries to claw to within 13 points at the last change as Richmond appeared to be just hanging on.
But the Tigers had other ideas, taking complete control when the game was on the line to cause the upset and force their way into the top eight.
RICHMOND 11.10 (76)
PORT ADELAIDE 5.13 (43)
GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 4, Batchelor, Ellis, Deledio, Martin, Griffiths, Menadue, Edwards
Port Adelaide: Monfries 2, Wingard 2, R. Gray
Official crowd: 45,268 at Adelaide Oval
THE 5 THINGS WE LEARNED1 — Milestone games mean nothing. Kane Cornes became Port’s first 300-game player but the side couldn’t have been more flat in the champ’s farewell appearance. Team-mates had spoken of wanting to reward Cornes’s service but the promise fell short. Cornes still finished with head held high, curtailing Trent Cotchin while gaining 28 touches.
2 — Port Adelaide won the 2014 elimination final by 57 points. Richmond skipper Cotchin learnt winning the toss and kicking with the breeze pays dividends. There was a massive gulf between the first quarters of the elimination final and round eight. Port’s goal-less first term was its first at Adelaide Oval.
3 — Adelaide Oval is now more red carpet than fortress for interstate rivals. The Tigers came and conquered as Sydney and West Coast have done this season.
4 — Port’s kicking for goal — Angus Monfries excepted — is reaching crisis point. A wasteful 8.17 in the loss against Brisbane was followed by 5.13 last night. Jay Schulz’s (0.2) second-term miss from 10 metres out was characteristic of Port’s profligacy in front of the sticks.
5 — If Brett Deledio’s on, Richmond’s on. The Tigers struggled early in the brilliant midfielder’s absence but looks decidedly more composed and confident when Deledio starts. Deledio’s contested possession (15) and clearance count (five) were decisive factors in the visitors’ triumph.
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-2015-richmond-defeats-port-adelaide-at-adelaide-oval-in-round-8-in-kane-cornes-300th-and-stuff-1227366351686
