This was published 11 months ago
That’s all we have for you as we sign off from Gather Round 2025. Thanks for joining our live coverage.
Here’s how Sunday’s games played out:
Fremantle 16.12 (108) defeated Richmond 7.5 (47) at Barossa Park.
GWS 16.14 (110) defeated St Kilda 12.10 (82) at Norwood Oval.
Port Adelaide 18.13 (121) defeated Hawthorn 14.7 (91) at Adelaide Oval.
Thanks again for your company tonight. Until next time.
Power coach Ken Hinkley said he was checking the time left in the match, and acknowledged some trepidation in the coach’s box when the Hawks cut his side’s margin to 22 points. He was clearly looking at the clock.
“They’re a great team,” he said of the Hawks.
Speaking post-match, Hinkley said the Power’s dominant win was not related to the 2024 semi-final’s after the siren antics, which saw him rebuked and fined $20,000.
Asked if he’d been thinking about the incident in the lead-up to the game, Hinkley said: “We don’t need to go into that.”
Questioned again later, he said: “Last year, I’ve said enough around what happened, and I apologised – and I say it again.”
In time, we will likely learn if Hawthorn’s first-half capitulation to a pumped-up Port Adelaide was an anomaly, just one of those nights in which the one team gets rolling and the other rolls over.
If this was out of character for Hawthorn – based on their consistency over the past 12 months – Port Adelaide’s frenzied opening hour, when they put the Hawks to the sword with a dozen goals to three, was on-brand.
Port, obliterated by Collingwood in round one at the MCG, has the capacity to turn it on, or turn it up.
We saw both the stupendous and the shaky Port within two hours in the heavily hyped final game of Gather Round.
The Hawks charged back from a 71-point deficit to close to within 22 points with eight minutes remaining – enough for the confident Hokballers to get up, unless Port replied.
Read the full analysis here.
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell treated the game as educational for his group.
“We want to play in these big games, but we haven’t been quite able to work out how to perform at our best in every moment,” he said of his side’s loss.
Nothing surprised him about Port’s intensity. The Hawks tried to stop their momentum three minutes in the game.
Ultimately, the former Hawthorn skipper said his team was feeling torn after being smacked around in a redemption game gone wrong.
“There was a bit of riding on the game, and we would have loved to have played much better than that,” Mitchell said.
Jason Horne-Francis used memories of last year’s tense semi-final as motivation for tonight’s game.
The emotions boiled over a few times and the crowd certainly remembered the fallout of the 2024 final – but it played to Horne-Francis’ advantage.
“I think rivalries are so good to have,” he told Channel Seven post-game.
“It’s such a good rivalry ... we couldn’t have rivalry against a better club.
“I think it is good for us – it gets us up and about for a game.”
Zak Butters spoke to Channel Seven post game, here’s how his interview unfolded.
What a win, [there were] nervous moments late in the fourth but [beating the] undefeated Hawks, that is fantastic...
It was a tough game, we knew that. It was a true Port Adelaide win, backs to the wall, everyone rolled their sleeves up.
Speaking on it, everybody knows how the season ended last year – the result is done. You have the points in the bank. Did you think about it pre-game?
We touched on it, it is more about us coming out and doing what we have done the last couple of times.
Last week you gave the Saints that four goals [advantage] and started at quarter-time, and a note coming in there was a big effort – away you kicked off from the opening bounce...
Last week, our performance was really strong and we took confidence and momentum from that, but we knew that [if] we start like that, it would be hard to come back from. We knew if we get a good, strong start [and] kept rolling it would be a good night.
Port have taken the honours in a fizzer. The Hawks were simply not ready for the pressure Port Adelaide applied, and wilted. They fought back to get within 22 points, which was to their credit, but they never really threatened. Connor Rozee was excellent in the first half off half-back as they hit back with a repeat of last year’s semi-final result.
Port Adelaide have capped off a dream night on the Gather Round finale with a statement win over Hawthorn.
The Hawks drew it closer in the final term but the result was never in doubt after the Power steamrolled Hawthorn early on.
This is Hawthorn’s first loss of the season. Port Adelaide advance to 2-3.
FT: Port Adelaide 18.13 (121) Hawthorn 14.7 (91)
Jack Ginnivan has not scored from his 12 touches. Nick Watson has not scored from nine touches. Jason Horne-Francis and Zak Butters, on the other hand, have been outstanding for Port Adelaide.