Mitch Georgiades finished one goal shy of Port Adelaide’s single-game individual record as the Power’s post-bye reset continued to gather momentum – likely dousing Melbourne’s finals hopes in the process.
Georgiades had a realistic shot of enjoying a bumper double-figure day out, before ultimately settling for 7.4, on Steven May no less.
Mitch Georgiades finished with 7.4 against Melbourne.Credit: AFL Photos
Warren Tredrea (1998) and Jay Schulz (2014) jointly hold the record with eight-goal hauls in 1998 and 2014, respectively.
Esava Ratugolea’s seven intercept marks in the opening half also had threatened a record-book rewrite – the AFL record is 10 – while Jason Horne-Francis’s 20-disposal first half lit up Adelaide Oval before a shoulder injury ended his day early.
Melbourne’s Christian Pertracca tackles Port’s Miles Bergman.Credit: AFL Photos
Melbourne conceded costly goals after each of the first three end-of-quarter sirens, while their method moving forward was diabolical early, allowing Ratugolea to feast on one errant entry after another.
The Demons botched a chance to pinch the lead at the 10-minute mark of the second term when Christian Petracca pulled out of a chance to mark a Kane Farrell’s torp, switching to the member’s side deep in defence.
Petracca – who sustained a lacerated spleen, four broken ribs and a punctured lung in the King’s Birthday clash last year – let the ball land rather than trying for the mark back with the flight as Darcy Byrne-Jones and Sam Powell-Pepper honed in.
The Channel 7 commentator described it as “a chance that he (Petracca) didn’t want to take in the end”.
Co-commentator Nick Riewoldt, one of the bravest back-with-the-flight aerialists the sport has seen, replied: “Yeah, that’s become a bit of a theme for Christian this year. We all understand there would be some level of nervousness based on what happened last year in [the] King’s Birthday [game]. But we have seen that a bit from him this year, which we hadn’t seen throughout his career, not committing to the contest in those situations.”
Kane Cornes added: “You’re saying he’s playing tentative at times. I think that was another opportunity to go, mark the footy. We have seen Steven May do it at the other end of the ground.”
Petracca shrugged off the moment – and Kane Farrell’s hard tag – to rack up the first three centre clearances of the second half as Melbourne made their move.
Bayley Fritsch goaled twice, while Daniel Turner was swung into attack and bombed a six-pointer from outside 50 metres, slicing the gap to five points, before Georgiades filled his boots on May down the stretch as Port pulled away.
Everything the Dees did early went through Pickett, who booted three first-half goals from the top shelf.
Ironically, Melbourne’s fleeting fightback came with absolutely no impact from their million-dollar man who was unsighted after the break.
Meanwhile, Port captain Connor Rozee got to work across half-back, Georgiades stepped up and the Power found a second wind.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
