PORT ADELAIDE has celebrated Warren Tredrea’s 200th gamein style with an emphatic 31–point win over Essendon.
Tredrea was one of the Power's heroes, finishing withfour goals in the 19.12 (126) to 13.17 (95)victory at AAMI Stadium.
The crowd of 25,242 saw a vastly different Port Adelaide outfitto recent weeks as the Power moved the ball quickly and backed themselves with their trademarkrun-and-carry.
The decision to play Chad Cornes on James Hird proved amasterstroke for Mark Williams with the Bomber superstar restricted to just 14possessions for the game.
Sheedy’s former apprentice also outwitted the master with Michael Pettigrew's shutdown role on playmaker Dustin Fletcher.
With a four-game losing streak behind them, the Powerheads into the break at 7-5 with its confidence restored.
The captain got Port Adelaide off to a dream start in hismilestone game. Tredrea showed poisebeyond his recent form to nail his first and inspire a six-goal quarter fromthe Power.
Talented onballer Shaun Burgoyne got the monkey off hisback, too, moments later with a scintillating burst from the centre square. Burgoyne steadied from outside 50m to slot through thePower’s second goal.
Brett Ebert showed he, too, could go the distance withthe first of his four goals also coming from outside the 50m.
Port Adelaide dominated every aspect of the game withDean Brogan and Brendon Lade making easy work of the Essendon ruckmen.
Dom Cassisi and Kane Cornes excelled with first use ofthe ball and helped the Power to a 12-5 centre-clearance lead at the firstbreak.
But it was exciting 19-year old Robbie Gray who stole theshow.
The three-gamer finished with four goals for the game –all kicked in the first half.
Gray showed why the Power coaching staff rate him sohighly, spinning past Patrick Ryder to coolly kick his first of the game.
The Bombers’ only opening term highlight was a goal toDamien Peverill that kept Essendon within 37 points.
Much to the delight of Power fans, Port Adelaidesuperseded their first-term heroics with an emphatic seven-goal second quarter.
Gray slipped two more tackles before dropping the ball onto his trusty right boot to register his third goal of the game.
Determined not to be outclassed by his younger teammate,Brett Ebert snapped blindly for two goals in five minutes to give the Power a47-point lead.
All of the Port Adelaide forwards looked dangerous as thePower pushed inside their attacking 50m 15 times in the quarter.
Justin Westhoff gave fans even more reason to be excited forthe Power’s future, booting two first-half goals and showing extraordinary skillfor a man standing 199cm tall.
Scott Lucas, Mark Bolton and Scott Laycock offered somescoreboard resistance but the margin blew out to 46 points at the main break.
Acutely aware of the Bombers’ comeback capabilities thePower were relentless in the second half.
Darryl Wakelin and Toby Thurstans kept Matthew Lloyd andScott Lucas to a goal apiece while the Port Adelaide forwards continued to puton a show.
Goals to Tredrea, Ebert, Chad Cornes, Damon Whiteextended the Power’s lead to 69 points at the final break.
Essendon fought back in the final term with a six goal tonil quarter but the game was beyond reach.
Steve Salopek's ankle injury and the report of MichaelWilson were the only downsides to Port Adelaide's dominant performance.
PORT ADELAIDE 7.4 13.6 19.10 19.12(126)
ESSENDON 1.3 5.8 7.13 13.17 (95)
Goals
Port Adelaide: B Ebert 4 W Tredrea 4 RGray 4 J Westhoff 2 C Cornes D White M Wilson D Rodan S Burgoyne.
Essendon: MMcVeigh 2 D Peverill 2 A McPhee 2 A Welsh M Lloyd S Lucas M Bolton C Heffernan JLaycock J Nash.
Best
Port Adelaide: C Cornes R Gray W TredreaS Burgoyne P Burgoyne D Brogan J Westhoff B Ebert K Cornes.
Essendon: J Watson JNash M McVeigh.
Injuries
Port Adelaide: Salopek (ankle).
Essendon:Stanton (ankle) and Camporeale (virus) replaced in selected side by Heffernan and Nash.
Umpires: S Grun S Wenn MEllis
Official crowd: 25,242 at AAMIStadium
