A crowd of 8905 saw Adelaide win 9.18 (72) to 10.5 (65) on a big, superbly grassed ground baked by temperatures in the high 20s.
Adelaide thrived on the midfield/forward run and distribution of Simon Goodwin, Graham Johncock, Andrew McLeod and Mark Ricciuto, and the strength of centre half-back Ken McGregor and three-goal centre half-forward Ian Perrie.
Adelaide coach Gary Ayres was satisfied with the Crows’ effort.
“The things we’ve been talking about over the pre-season are starting to show evidence in the past two weeks,” he said.
“I don’t think our mental preparation to play the first two games was where it should have been, for whatever reason. But I think their intensity, their ability to attack the Power and obviously West Coast last week obviously was a continuation of that, so I think there were many more positives out of the game than there were negatives.
“Ian Perrie's been a little bit down. When you looked at the forward line, you probably said no Carey, no Welsh, no Mark Stevens, and we had some young personnel in there at different times – Skipworth, Schuback, etc. To generate that number of scoring shots and, even though the finish wasn’t what you want, I thought we outplayed Port all day and the scoreboard wasn’t a true reflection of how much dominance we had all over the ground.
“Overall, I thought our entries were pretty reasonable. We butchered a bit of the ball going inside out forward 50. We missed some easy goals.
“The pleasing thing is we’re getting the ball. We messed around a fair bit today but the big gain is that we’re getting lots of the ball.
“To restrict Port to 15 scoring shots – and (with) some of our defensive action – was very positive. And I thought we were pretty much in control with our stuff around the stoppages.”
Port claimed the lead briefly only twice in the third quarter when Shaun Burgoyne kicked four successive goals and Steven Salopek booted Port’s fifth for the term.
Ruckman/forward Brendon Lade was a force for Port and two of the Power’s other better players – defender Matthew Bishop and midfielder Peter Burgoyne – were rested in the second half.
So, too, was captain/ruckman Matthew Primus, who strained a side, although Port coach Mark Williams was quick to point out later that Primus was ‘not hurt’.
“He’s got a strain in the side so there’s nothing wrong with him,” Williams insisted.
Byron Pickett had two stitches inserted in a cut in head. He also did not return after half-time. Nor did new joint vice-captain Josh Carr.
Brett Ebert did not play a full game – his first for the Power – but won some good touches and kicked a fine, running goal in the second quarter.
Williams said: “I was very happy that I got to see a lot of young players play and I thought they did OK. To get through the game in the country without any injury of note is fantastic for us. It was another run under our belt and trying a few things out. All of those things are important for us.
“I would have rather Darryl Wakelin and Chad Cornes have played but we were a little conservative with them. Wakes will play for Port Magpies next week to make sure he has a game under his belt.”
ADELAIDE: 2.7 3.10 7.13 9.18 (72)
PORT ADELAIDE: 2.0 3.1 8.2 10.5 (65)
GOALS – Adelaide: Perrie 3, Skipworth 2, S. Stevens, McLeod, Biglands, Johncock.
Port Adelaide: S. Burgoyne 4, Lade 2, Ebert, Salopek, K. Cornes, White.
BEST – Adelaide: Goodwin, Johncock, McLeod, McGregor, Perrie, Clarke.
Port Adelaide: S. Burgoyne, Lade, Bishop, P. Burgoyne, Montgomery, Kingsley.
INJURIES – Adelaide: Welsh (flu, withdrew before the match).
Port Adelaide: Primus (strained side), Pickett (cut head).
UMPIRES: J. Schmitt, D. Woodcock, S. Grun.
CROWD: 8905 at Kadina Oval.
