AFL LIVE: League’s call on extra time; Saints take on Port Adelaide

The Saints nail the first goal through Mitch Owens, who is on fire early.

He wins a ground ball and as he is driving forward, cops a high tackle. If only Jack Ginnivan could get the same treatment. Owens kicks truly from 35 in front.

The first two scores of the game are two behinds – one to each team.

It looks like Liam Stocker has gone to Port Adelaide prime mover Jason Horne-Francis early.

Saints by six points

And we’re away. The ball has been bounced.

Port fans have held their scarves aloft and sung their anthem, Inxs’ Never tear Us Apart

The Saints are kicking to the old scoreboard end in the first quarter.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said his side would aim to be more composed against Port Adelaide after giving up seven goals in the first quarter against the Western Bulldogs last week.

“We thought we were a bit helter-skelter with the ball – six of their seven goals in the first quarter were off turnovers,” Lyon told Fox Footy.

“So we need to be more composed. And tactically, we set the team up wrong defensively. We wanted to protect the corridor, and they love to get one out with their hands, and we just sat off them a bit.

“Once they composed the ball, the story of the night was that they shifted it at will … and we were exposed badly.”

Lyon said the Saints would look to capitalise on their first-quarter possessions after giving up leads in the opening terms across the early rounds.

“It’s interesting, we go back to Richmond game – we had 16 inside 50s in the first quarter and I think we kicked five behinds and slaughtered the ball. And the Bulldogs game, it was equal entries to be fair.

“We were actually going too quick. We were going too fast for our capabilities. And we weren’t executing, and they were living off the turnovers.”

The draw is here to stay. The AFL has no plans to introduce extra time for home-and-away games as debate rages on whether the league should get rid of the draw after the Anzac Day deadlock.

A day after a crowd of 93,644 were left in shock by the season’s first draw, Carlton coach Michael Voss yesterday backed his Essendon counterpart Brad Scott’s call to let the fans decide.

It comes after Bombers captain Zach Merrett said he would have welcomed extra time to find a winner.

The AFL introduced extra time for finals in 1991 after the previous year’s finals series was thrown into chaos by a draw between Collingwood and West Coast in a qualifying final, forcing the schedule to be pushed back a week to accommodate a replay of the game.

The league scrapped the draw for grand finals after the Pies and St Kilda could not be separated on the last Saturday in September in 2010.

But there are no plans for change in the home-and-away season, according to a league source with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak.

Voss, whose Blues drew with Richmond on opening night last year, said he supported Scott’s idea for the league to poll fans on whether to keep the draw but expressed caution on the extra workload for players.

“I’d hand that over to supporters to see where they would like to go with that and what the future looks like,” Voss said.

“There is higher demands if you choose to go down that path – that’s the only consideration. If that was to happen a couple of weeks in a row, that would make things interesting.

“But I can see why there’s an argument for and I can also see why there’s an argument against. I traditionally like it the way that it is, but I’d be happy to lean on others to come up with that final call.”

Scott, formerly the AFL’s football operations boss before becoming the Bombers coach, said he did not have a strong view either way.

“If you ask the fans I think they probably want a result,” Scott said. “It is an even comp. I think we fixed the major one, you don’t want a draw in a grand final as an industry. I don’t have a strong view for and against. If I was the AFL, I would poll the fans.”

Merrett said he was in favour of having extra time to find a winner.

“I love competing, I love winning,” said Merrett, the Anzac Day medallist for the best afield. “I hate losing so I would love to have played for an extra five or 10 minutes to get a result but it is a unique feeling walking off with no team song.”

Melbourne’s Christian Petracca and Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield had different views on extra time.

“I think if you speak to a lot of the players, I think they’d play an extra 10 minutes,” Petracca told Nova yesterday. “Five to 10 minutes … And then I reckon after that 10 minutes if it’s a draw, it’s a draw. You can’t keep playing.”

Dangerfield said he had always thought it would be nice to get a result, but added: “Having watched the game as a neutral observer yesterday, I sort of felt like the draw was appropriate for that game.

“Everyone leaves sort of a bit melancholy, but it just felt right. Like both teams had their momentum at different stages and opportunities to win. And that is the uniqueness about our game.

“So I’ve sort of turned full circle on the draw and apart from, obviously, finals, I feel like it’s a nice part of the game that may send some a bit crazy at times. And that drive home a bit ordinary, but I didn’t mind it …”

Thursday’s draw was the 57th since the start of the AFL era in 1990 and the 167th in V/AFL history stretching back to 1897.

What’s at stake: St Kilda are the team on the edge here. If Ross Lyon’s lads go down to the Power tonight, which the odds suggest they will, they sink to 2-5 for the season and begin to lose sight of the eight. The Power have a bit more wriggle room. Heading into tonight they are 4-2. But they will be keen to bounce back after an ordinary three quarters last week against Collingwood. The Power led by 31 points at one stage during the first quarter against the Magpies and then raised the white flag and went down by 42. Tonight they will celebrate Zak Butters’ 100th game.

History says: The Power have won their past four against the Saints and enjoy a 4-1 record from their past five. The last time they clashed at Adelaide Oval was in 2021, with the Power winning 93-39. But during their past encounter in Adelaide in 2020, St Kilda won 73 to 44.

Coaches’ corner: ”We’ve just lobbed into the education space, trying to fix our ball movement. We are pretty keen to get out energy back. We gave them a few days off, so they are pretty vibrant,” Ross Lyon on how the Saints responded to last week’s loss to the Western Bulldogs.

“Everyone hears this word around contest, and contested possession, and ground ball, and we all automatically zoom in on the midfield. If you look at the game really closely, you’ll find it is the whole ground. It’s not just one particular area,” Ken Hinkley on Port Adelaide losing the contested ball count against top four sides.

At the selection table: The Power have swung three changes, bringing in a couple of club heavyweights – Travis Boak and Charlie Dixon – plus second gamer Dylan Williams. Ryan Burton and Jed McEntee were left out. The Saints have selected Dougal Howard for his first game of the year, while also bringing in Angus Hastie. St Kilda lost Dan Butler to injury and dropped Zak Jones. each return to the side, in what will be vice-captain Zak Butters’ 100th AFL game.

The experts say: The Age tipping panel is unanimous in their support for a Port Adelaide victory. But they are not expecting a blow out, with the average winning margin being 15 points.

PORT ADELAIDE

B: [6] Kane Farrell, [27] Esava Ratugolea, [25] Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

HB: [34] Lachie Jones, [21] Aliir Aliir, [5] Dan Houston

C: [14] Miles Bergman, [16] Ollie Wines, [28] Willem Drew

HB: [33] Darcy Byrne-Jones, [4] Todd Marshall, [1] Connor Rozee

F: [2] Sam Powell-Pepper, [22] Charlie Dixon, [15] Willie Rioli

FOL: [24] Jordon Sweet, [18] Jason Horne-Francis, [9] Zak Butters

IC: [44] Jackson Mead, [7] Jase Burgoyne, [10] Travis Boak, [19] Mitch Georgiades, [23] Dylan Williams

EMG: [38] Dante Visentini, [31] Francis Evans, [17] Tom Clurey

SAINTS

B: [26] Josh Battle, [21] Zaine Cordy, [44] Callum Wilkie

HB: [20] Dougal Howard, [35] Jack Sinclair, [7] Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera

C: [13] Ryan Byrnes, [6] Sebastian Ross, [8] Bradley Hill

HF: [1] Jack Higgins, [22] Darcy Wilson, [43] Cooper Sharman

F: [25] Mattaes Phillipou, [47] Anthony Caminiti, [28] Tim Membrey

FOL: [19] Rowan Marshall, [9] Jack Steele, [2] Marcus Windhager

IC: [10] Mitch Owens, [14] Liam Stocker, [24] Angus Hastie, [34] Hugo Garcia, [36] Riley Bonner

EMG: [4] Lance Collard, [18] Jack Hayes, [38] Tom Campbell

Catch up on all the ins and outs for the round. See them HERE.

Hello and welcome to our coverage of a Friday night footy – Port Adelaide versus St Kilda at Adelaide Oval. Kick-off time is 7.40pm AEST. Port Adelaide are sitting in seventh with four wins, while the Saints are 13th with two wins.