Crows and Power miss their chances

PORT Adelaide let one slip.
Adelaide’s slip came with some help from the goal review system.
Regardless of the reasons, both SA-based sides may rue the lost opportunity of round 10 when the numbers are added up at the end of the year.
Port is out of the eight for the first time this year.
Adelaide is in ninth place with five wins and five losses and faces top class Sydney at home next week. The only good news is that star recruit Brad Crouch looks set for a senior recall after an impressive 20 possessions for West Adelaide against North Adelaide on Sunday.
Reflecting on the loss, Crows coach Brenton Sanderson said his experienced players fumbled too much and lost their feet at important times.
“Our number one point before the game was to keep your feet,” Sanderson said.
“Under pressure we fell over, went to ground too easy.
“Experienced players, not just our kids, still fell over and took the easy option and went to ground, which is unacceptable in wet weather.”
Adelaide won the clearances, the contested possessions and the inside 50s but were unable to break through the Dockers’ dour defence.
The Dockers have the lowest ‘score against’ figures in the AFL, and Sydney is just behind them, suggesting the Crows have to sort out that problem quickly.
“We won most of the stats but didn’t win on the scoreboard unfortunately,” Sanderson said.
“It looked like they got goals that much easier – we had to fight for everything.”
Port Adelaide had plenty to play for – a spot in the eight up for grabs as the Power could have headed into a break with a 6-5 win record.
Coach Ken Hinkley slammed his team’s performance against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night as the side’s worst loss of the season.
The Power squandered a half-time lead with a lacklustre third quarter where the Bulldogs scored five goals to none.
“It’s been a really poor night for us,” Hinkley said after the game.
“I think it just came down to a little bit more want in the third quarter. They wanted the win. They wanted to win the ball, they won the contested possession really well.
“They just wanted to win the game more than we did, which was disappointing.
“It should be very damning because we should never have let that game go the way it went.”
Port is among the first teams to have the bye (which is split over three weeks) and then play the winless Greater Western Sydney.
The easy run then gets herd – very hard – with matches against Sydney, Collingwood, Essendon and Hawthorn.
Port should have been looking at 7-5 after 12 and a chance of finals football; but they look to have let that opportunity slip on one humid night in Darwin.