AFL: Port Adelaide v Richmond – live!

Q3: 13 mins remaining: Power 9.7 (61) v 7.3 (45) Tigers – OH MY WORD! Charlie Dixon has just snapped, Ablett-like, from deep in the right forward pocket, right-footed, from the narrowest of angles for a goal. That is wild.

Another Port Adelaide attack, this one set up by some brilliant sharp handballs in midfield. Then the long bomb to Dixon who brings the ball to ground, neat crumbing from Gray, then Dixon with the unlikeliest of finishes. Amazing.

YES! I haven’t done this much typing and formatting in a liveblog for ages. And I’m probably only conveying a fraction of what’s happening in South Australia.

That scrappy passage of play is amplified by Richmond taking the sting out of the game across half-back, slowing the play down as half-time nears. Both teams have chances to emerge from the wreckage in attack, but tired bodies are failing to execute skills. The poorest of those sees a Richmond boot squirt the ball miles off target to a Power defender and two hefty boots later the ball is inside attacking 50. Port Adelaide sense a goal at their mercy and pour all over Richmond’s tired defence but can’t take clean possession. Until they do! And the ball arcs tantalisingly in Gray’s direction – but the siren sounds! More agony for Port Adelaide! What drama!

That was a brilliant, engrossing, highlight reel of a half of footy. Port Adelaide lead by nine.

Q2: 3 min remaining: Power 8.6 (54) v 7.3 (45) Tigers – Richmond are really struggling to clear their lines in defence. A bungled switch from right to left invites pressure, then a clearing kick falls to Gray who looks to have been tackled illegally with Stack landing on his back – but the umpires again favour the Tigers! The crowd, and the commentators, cannot believe it.

Of course, Richmond go down the other end and in a series of phases, highlighted by a Pickett hanger, kick a goal. Aarts showing twinkle toes in the goal square to find the loose ball, slip his much taller defender and snap home.

The second 12-point swing goal Richmond’s way today. What on earth is going on? This is brilliant!

Q2: 11 min remaining: Power 5.5 (35) v 6.3 (39) Tigers – Lol! Richmond lead! What the absolute ****!!!???

Hamish Hartlett, what are you doing? On centre wing the Power midfielder had the game in control, then for some reason decided to handball straight to two Richmond players. From there the Tigers barrel into 50, an attack that should end when Riewoldt is caught stone dead holding the ball – but there’s no whistle! Richmond pour all over the Power defence and the wave ends with Martin snapping into an empty goal. The crowd are fuming.

Q2: 12 min remaining: Power 5.5 (35) v 5.3 (33) Tigers – Ladhams again! Way too quick and strong for Grimes on the lead, clunking another impressive mark. He can’t make the distance this time though and after a melee around the dropping ball Richmond escape. Then they get 50. Then they launch deep inside-50 the other way. Then Riewoldt gets the softest of free-kicks. Then he kicks his third, from point-blank range. Adelaide Oval is a crescendo of caterwauling. Fabulous entertainment but Ken Hinkley must be fuming. That free against Riewoldt was not there, moreover, the free should have gone to Port for a shove from Martin that started the domino rally of a marking contest.

The 10,000 Power fans sound like 100,000. Love it!

Q2: 15 min remaining: Power 4.4 (28) v 4.3 (27) Tigers – Chol sends Richmond forward at the opening bounce of the second quarter, after which they force repeat stoppages, eventually ending with Martin exerting his force of will on a scrum to dig out a handball with bodies hanging off him, and Lambert slams home!

Superb work from Chol twice in that attack who is having a terrific game. Richmond just one off the lead!

That was breathless stuff. Will Port Adelaide be made to pay for their sloppiness in front of goal? Big job for Ken Hinkley at the break to keep his troops upbeat.

Back to big Ivan Soldo, he now has a serious cut and swelling under his right eye to go with his heavily strapped right calf.

Well, that was jolly good fun. Port Adelaide should be practically out of sight, but, kicking for a 31-point lead, Charlie Dixon shanked his second soda of the afternoon, whereafter the Tigers booted three unanswered to hit the first break with a wet sail.

More please.

Q1: 1 min remaining: Power 4.4 (28) v 3.3 (21) Tigers – Deary me. For the second time today two Power defenders collide in a markign contest and Richmond kick an uncontested goal out the back – Riewoldt this time profiting. Power demand a free-kick for Lynch interfering in the contest, but there’s not much doing.

What a quarter!

Q1: 4 mins remaining: Power 4.3 (27) v 2.1 (13) Tigers – Two in the blink of an eye for Richmond! Both against the run of play too. Power win another clearance and look destined for points but they fail to convert and from the rebound Chol does superbly to contest on right centre wing then palm the ball forward 50m until there’s chaos in Port Adelaide’s defence and Riewoldt is Jack on the spot to snap home.

The Power should be 40-points up and somehow there’s two goals in it.

Q1: 9 mins remaining: Power 3.2 (20) v 0.1 (1) Tigers – Ball-up inside-50 for Port Adelaide and Dixon makes sure the umpires are well aware of Chol’s ill-advised shove. After hitting the ground hard the big man walks back and misses to the right when it was easier to split the middle.

All Power so far. Richmond are being out-Richmoned in their own half, Port Adelaide applying ferocious forward pressure then moving the ball at speed.

Q1: 10 mins remaining: Power 3.1 (19) v 0.1 (1) Tigers – A little passage of what looks like Australian rules union out in the middle of Adelaide Oval. So many bodies around the contest, all intent on stopping an opponent. Eventually a free-kick relieves the constipation and Port Adelaide attack again.

As with most Power surges so far today the move ends with a goal. Robbie Gray this time kicking precisely on the run after some terrific forward pressure from young Woodcock.

Q1: 14 mins remaining: Power 1.0 (6) v 0.0 (0) Tigers – Couple of early inside-50s to the Power, who have started red hot, and from the second they kick one of the goals of the year! What a finish! A left-footed banana/check side (don’t @ me) from, get this, Ladhams, from close to the behind post, with nobody expecting the ruckman to shoot. My word.

There we go, all the interest in Soldo and it’s Port Adelaide who spring a very very very late out. Connor Rozee is a big loss for the Power.

Out come the Power boys in all black with a teal and white trim. Shame they can’t rock up in the prison bars every week. I wonder if they’ve all had their studs given the once over?

Richmond are out on Adelaide Oval in their premiership-winning clash colours of yellow guernseys, white shorts and yellow socks. Do you like the look Tigers fans? As a neutral, I love it, especially in a head-to-head like this where it creates such a clear contrast. Some other clubs could take note.

There are 10,000 fans inside the ground, by the way, a figure decided upon as a consequence of the South Australian government’s response to the pandemic.

A week is a long time in footy. Remember when the big story was the AFL’s dreadful handling of its own in-house PR?

I can vouch that this second lockdown in Victoria is far harder to tolerate than the first – and we’re only one week into the six-week inconvenience. Jonathan Horn has applied a footy lens to the sense of loss we’re all experiencing.

Melbourne’s winters are not particularly nasty. But they really drag on. It can feel like three months of 13C days. All the things that make it tolerable – the festivals, the galleries, the bars and the footy – were now denied to us. Melburnians were dog tired, anxious, increasingly unwilling to follow the rules and looking for someone to blame. Social media was a cesspool. We all knew someone who had lost their job, or whose business was on the brink. My local pub, a typical footy pub with an open fire, an 18-year-old cat, four big screens and every pisspot and ear basher this side of the Yarra, was boarded up and padlocked. Footage surfaced of crackpots refusing to wear masks. One was straight from central casting – a self-proclaimed exorcist, flapping her gums and scouring the aisles for a shovel to build a Viking firepit.

We’re open below the line! I know you’re a good lot, but keep it civil please.

Why is Chol the centre of attention today? Here’s why:

The AFL has responded with an official statement:

The actions of players touching several team-mates inappropriately during post game celebrations and / or during club theme songs is not in keeping with either club, community or AFL expectations. The behaviour is inappropriate, unacceptable and juvenile. AFL players are professional athletes and set the example for the hundreds of thousands of kids playing football across the country. It is the responsibility of each club and the players themselves to ensure this inappropriate behaviour is not repeated.

Despite Richmond naming their line-up, there’s TV coverage of Ivan Soldo looking a bit proppy during warm-ups and engaging in plenty of brow-furrowed dialogue with team doctors. There’s further vision of Soldo on the physio’s bench having his right leg worked on.

This is already a big day for Mabior Chol and it looks set to get a whole lot bigger.

Two changes for the in-form Tigers with Daniel Rioli and Josh Caddy back in the 22 and hoping for a return to better footy after lean starts to the season. Damien Hardwick signalled earlier in the week that he would not be bringing skipper Trent Cotchin to South Australia, with the below-par Jack Higgins the other player to miss out.

Hardwick is confident Cotchin will be fine but didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks with the condensed scheduling. “He is probably the one player we have put a little bit of plan in place with regards to his hamstring,” Hardwick said. “He won’t board the plane but he will, obviously, be right nine or 10 days later.”

B Nathan Broad, Dylan Grimes, Noah Balta

HB Derek Eggmolesse-Smith, Nick Vlastuin, Jayden Short

C Kamdyn McIntosh, Sydney Stack, Marlion Pickett

HF Kane Lambert, Jake Aarts, Tom Lynch

F Jason Castagna, Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt

Foll Ivan Soldo, Josh Caddy, Shai Bolton

I/C Liam Baker, Daniel Rioli, Mabior Chol, Jack Ross



In: Daniel Rioli, Josh Caddy

Out: Trent Cotchin (managed), Jack Higgins (omitted)

Two changes from Ken Hinkley, one forced, one on form. Out go the injured Sam Mayes and demoted Justin Westhoff, in come Jarrod Lienert and Scott Lycett. The latter returns from a knee injury that’s troubled him since round six, and he will line up in his 100th game alongside fellow ruckman Peter Ladhams, with that pair set to duke it out with Ivan Soldo and Mabior Chol in an old fashioned four-ruck combo.

B Jarrod Lienert, Tom Clurey, Trent McKenzie

HB Hamish Hartlett, Tom Jonas, Darcy Byrne-Jones

C Xavier Duursma, Ollie Wines, Karl Amon

HF Sam Powell-Pepper, Mitch Georgiades, Connor Rozee

F Zak Butters, Charlie Dixon, Robbie Gray

Foll Scott Lycett, Dan Houston, Travis Boak

I/C Peter Ladhams, Boyd Woodcock, Kane Farrell, Tom Rockliff

In: Jarrod Lienert, Scott Lycett

Out: Justin Westhoff (Omitted), Sam Mayes (Suspension)

Jonathan Howcroft

Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the opening match of round 11 of this year’s AFL premiership season. I know, I know, round 10 only ended last night, but hey, unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.

The match in question should be a doozy, a grand final preview perhaps? Port Adelaide v Richmond; top vs fourth; the pretenders against the premiers. We’ll be underway at Adelaide Oval at 4.35pm.

In such a compacted season with storylines splintering off left, right and centre, matches can come and go without much consideration. Not this one.

This is Port Adelaide’s statement game, where they prove they have the mettle to win in a finals-like contest against the competition’s yardstick. For Richmond, coming off the back of comprehensive wins against Western Bulldogs and Brisbane, relocating to South Australia, and enduring myriad off-field distractions, if they can celebrate another four points their push for a third premiership in four years will take on an irresistible feel.

It’s an intriguing match-up. Three of the past four meetings have been settled by 14-points or fewer and the ledger over eight games reads four wins apiece. However, the past two have gone the way of the Tigers, including this corresponding fixture in 2019 when Richmond scraped home by seven points without Trent Cotchin, Jack Riewoldt, Dustin Martin and the recently injured Alex Rance. Tom Lynch starred on that occasion, booting six, and a similar haul today would vault the premiership winner joint top in the Coleman Medal race.

With home ground advantage and a season of form behind them, the Power go in marginal favourites for mine, a status enhanced by Richmond’s notable absentees. The stats also suggest Port Adelaide’s engine room of Tom Rockliff, Ollie Wines and Travis Boak all enjoy the match-up, while the revitalised Charlie Dixon will not have to extricate himself from Rance’s pocket. Let’s find out…

Remember, if you want to get in touch at any point, you can reach me on Twitter or email.