Port Adelaide strengthened their spot in eighth position on the AFL ladder with a nine-point victory over Brisbane at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.
The Lions, backed by the performances of Jack Redden and Tom Rockliff, trailed by under a goal at three-quarter time, but a Chad Wingard goal finally ended a scoreless patch from both sides midway through the final term, allowing Port to run away with the 9.17 (71) to 9.8 (62) result.
The loss has done Brisbane’s top eight chase no favours- the Lions are now three games out of Port’s position with just five rounds in the home and away season remaining.
Jay Schulz led Port’s goal kicking tally with two while Travis Boak and Hamish Hartlett collected 27 and 26 disposals respectively.
Port will face competition from Carlton in the run home. The Blues momentarily nabbed eighth spot with a big win over the Suns on Saturday afternoon until the Power’s Sunday win propelled them once again into the finals spectrum. They are to play Adelaide, Geelong Gold Coast and Fremantle before a final Round 23 clash with the Blues.
“Sometimes you have got to find a way to win – and we found a way to win,” Port coach Ken Hinkley said after the team’s 10th victoryof the season.
Hinkley refused to talk about finals football saying, “I like to control what I can control, and that is now,” before adding, “Port Adelaide people, they’re starting to believe again.”
“Today, they will go away and think ‘gee, it wasn’t a great game of footy’. But I’m sure they’ll go away pretty proud of the effort of the boys too.”
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