23rd Mar 2012
  
Port Adelaide demolishes premiers
By Matt Agius
The Port Adelaide Football Club has demolished Woodville-West Torrens in the opening round of the 2012 SANFL season at Thebarton Oval.
Confronted with the challenge of facing the reigning premiers on their home turf, the Magpies took the fight to the Eagles early on – booting four goals in the opening quarter and opening a 27-point lead by the first break.
Playing in greasy conditions with sporadic rainfall, the Magpies adapted well and played a brand of football well suited to the weather. Kicking long and crumbing the ground ball well, Port Adelaide looked fast, efficient and competitive and easily outshone the Eagles in contests.
The Eagles kicked two goals to stem the tide of Port Adelaide majors midway through the second term and bridged the gap back to a handful of goals. Yet whenever the premiers responded to a Magpies surge, the black and white responded by intensifying their efforts to another level.
Senior coach Tony Bamford was impressed – even surprised - by what his side produced on the night.
“Nineteen more games like that would be nice!” he said.
“I knew we were going to come out (with intensity) and fight but I didn’t expect that level. I think the side can take it up a few more gears too.”
Bamford said that whilst the win was a great way to start the season, the club still had a way to go before it reached the level he expects.
“I think our team’s got plenty of talent to play flashy footy, we just need to keep working at our game plan so that we can take it up a couple more notches.”
“It’s a blue collar brand of contested footy that’s going to get us over the line this year and the guys know they need to be working toward that.”
“Guys like Nick Madden I was really pleased with… Justin Hoskin again was good and Sam Gray as well.”
“We came into the year looking to have two wins before the year (in Round 3) and now we’ve done half of that.”
Port Adelaide travels to Unley Oval to face Sturt next weekend, where it will face a vastly different Double Blues side to the one that ended the 2012 season. Whilst Bamford is looking forward to the game, he and his charges will be wary of their old rivals.
“We don’t know what to expect from Sturt – they have a new coach, new players and play their first game at Unley for the year against us – so we’ll certainly have to be playing well if we want to get two-from-two.”
Match result
Port Adelaide 18.13 (121) def.
Woodville-West Torrens 10.6 (66)
Best: Gray, Clayton, Beard, McKenzie, Young, Banner, Thurgood.
Goals: Banner, Summerton 3, Gray, Ebert, Clayton 2, Harder, Young, McKenzie, Thurgood, Wilson, Hoskin.
Reports: nil
Injuries: nil
Reserves
Port Adelaide 10.9 (69) def. by
Woodville-West Torrens 12.14 (86)
Best: Raikawsa, Shannon, Scanlon, Grove, Kulikowski.
Goals: Heath, Broomhead, Stanley, Mercer, Haren, Grove, Shannon, Wellington.
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