‘Nothing’s ruled out yet’: Taranto has faith in Tigers despite loss to Power

POWER STAR TO RESCUE

Port Adelaide’s doubters were preparing to re-engage at half-time, when they stumbled to an 11-point deficit to a Richmond side widely tipped to finish in the bottom four.

After wasting their opening quarter dominance with woeful inaccuracy in front of goal, the Power suddenly found themselves chasing tail as the Tigers kicked into gear in the second term.

Enter Zak Butters, Port Adelaide’s reigning club champion who was also a deserved All-Australian after an outstanding 2023 season.

The 23-year-old stepped up in a big way in timely fashion to rack up 14 disposals, four clearances - three out of the centre - four inside 50s and one goal in the third quarter to spare Port from embarrassment.

Butters finished with 34 disposals, 14 contested possessions and 13 score involvements as a four-goal blitz to start the final term set up a 30-point victory at the MCG ahead of a home clash with Melbourne next week.

Sydney’s Isaac Heeney, Giant Tom Green and Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli have all lit up the competition this year, but Butters is playing almost as well as anyone.

SCORE REVIEW SCRUTINY

Richmond defender Jayden Short insisted he touched Jackson Mead’s goal to start the final term, which was the beginning of the end of the Tigers’ chances.
Back-to-back brilliant Liam Baker goals in the final minute of the third term - the second from beyond 50 metres after the siren - slashed Port Adelaide’s lead to seven points.
But Mead’s goal was the first of four in eight minutes that blew the Power’s advantage out to 31 points and ended Richmond’s winning hopes.
There was no score review on this occasion despite the umpires using an abundance of caution to double-check straightforward goals to Darcy Byrne-Jones and Zak Butters earlier in the contest.
The trend this season is to go that way, but Short’s pleas went unanswered. We can only assume it was ticked off silently in the ARC as the Sherrin returned to the centre.

MIXED BAG FOR BOLTON

Shai Bolton was a big part of the highs and lows of a challenging afternoon for his Tigers.

The livewire did plenty of eye-catching things and was particularly prominent in the second-quarter comeback with 10 of his 22 disposals and a series of dashes that created yellow-and-black scoring chances.

Bolton ended the game with two goals, eight score involvements, seven inside 50s, five clearances and more than 600 metres gained - but also seven turnovers, including six to half-time.

Turnovers have been an unfortunate theme of Richmond’s start to the season, particularly their opener against Gold Coast, so Bolton and co. will look to tidy things up quickly.

There was plenty to like about the form of Liam Baker (23 disposals, three goals), Dan Rioli (21) and Jack Ross (26), while Dustin Martin (16) did some nice things without winning a stack of the ball.

CODY WEIGHTMAN FIRES:

The small forward is a remarkably reliable goalkicker in a role that can be a graveyard at times, having kicked at least one goal in 51 of his 61 matches. When he catches fire as he did in the first quarter of this must-win game for the Bulldogs he can only be described as irrepressible.

He kicked the first two goals within the first five minutes with a snap and a set shot after taking a contender for mark of the round.

He then bounced around to have five at half-time.

By then the Bulldogs had opened up a match winning lead (kicking their highest first quarter score at Mars Stadium and against the Suns, and any debates about selection or whether Aaron Naughton should be playing forward seemed less relevant for the time being.

Weightman finished with six goals, as he did last year in round 14 against the Kangaroos (when he also kicked five goals in two quarters of football).

LIBERATORE LEADS:

Emerging Suns’ midfielders Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson posed a serious threat to the Bulldogs, so they attracted the highest quality attention from the first bounce with Tom Liberatore taking on Rowell at the stoppages while Adam Treloar and Marcus Bontempelli dominated the clearances.

It took time for Rowell and Anderson to recover from ‘Libba’s’ onslaught as the Bulldogs opened up a 41-point deficit at the first break.

This Suns’ group didn’t give up though and kept coming with Liberatore needing to lift his troops again with an inspiring 10 minutes in the third quarter that led to a four goal burst (including one from Liberatore) that pushed the lead out to 46 points.

He was instrumental in driving the victory against a Suns’ team still looking for the right preparation to win away from home.

Jed Walter looked exciting on debut but their midfield were beaten when it mattered giving their key forwards little chance to have an impact.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED?:

The questions about the Bulldogs won’t go after just one performance but the response to their disappointing round one performance was encouraging.

Luke Beveridge held his nerve, giving Jackson Macrae another week in the VFL - where he gathered 47 touches - and Naughton up forward, elevating Caleb Daniel and Sam Darcy. Buku Khamis, Liam Jones and Ed Richards (before he was concussed) were excellent in defence after losing Nick Coffield to a shoulder injury in the first 10 minutes, while Weightman fed off the talls inside the forward 50.

They moved the ball off half back without the turnovers (except for a brief patch in the middle of the game) that ruined them in round one.

The Richards incident will be examined after Suns midfielder David Swallow copped him high when both were contesting the bouncing ball, but it appeared on first sight that veteran Sun had no option but to contest the ball.

Richards walked out to join his Bulldogs teammates and looks comfortable out there which is a good sign for him.

How do you see today playing out?

Will the Western Bulldogs be able to notch their first win of the season? It’s a tough ask against a rampaging Gold Coast, who have started their 2024 campaign 2-0.

Thanks for joining us today everyone.

That’s all for today’s blog.

Have a lovely evening.

POWER STAR TO RESCUE

Port Adelaide’s doubters were preparing to re-engage at half-time, when they stumbled to an 11-point deficit to a Richmond side widely tipped to finish in the bottom four.

After wasting their opening quarter dominance with woeful inaccuracy in front of goal, the Power suddenly found themselves chasing tail as the Tigers kicked into gear in the second term.

Enter Zak Butters, Port Adelaide’s reigning club champion who was also a deserved All-Australian after an outstanding 2023 season.

The 23-year-old stepped up in a big way in timely fashion to rack up 14 disposals, four clearances - three out of the centre - four inside 50s and one goal in the third quarter to spare Port from embarrassment.

Butters finished with 34 disposals, 14 contested possessions and 13 score involvements as a four-goal blitz to start the final term set up a 30-point victory at the MCG ahead of a home clash with Melbourne next week.

Sydney’s Isaac Heeney, Giant Tom Green and Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli have all lit up the competition this year, but Butters is playing almost as well as anyone.

SCORE REVIEW SCRUTINY

Richmond defender Jayden Short insisted he touched Jackson Mead’s goal to start the final term, which was the beginning of the end of the Tigers’ chances.
Back-to-back brilliant Liam Baker goals in the final minute of the third term - the second from beyond 50 metres after the siren - slashed Port Adelaide’s lead to seven points.
But Mead’s goal was the first of four in eight minutes that blew the Power’s advantage out to 31 points and ended Richmond’s winning hopes.
There was no score review on this occasion despite the umpires using an abundance of caution to double-check straightforward goals to Darcy Byrne-Jones and Zak Butters earlier in the contest.
The trend this season is to go that way, but Short’s pleas went unanswered. We can only assume it was ticked off silently in the ARC as the Sherrin returned to the centre.

MIXED BAG FOR BOLTON

Shai Bolton was a big part of the highs and lows of a challenging afternoon for his Tigers.

The livewire did plenty of eye-catching things and was particularly prominent in the second-quarter comeback with 10 of his 22 disposals and a series of dashes that created yellow-and-black scoring chances.

Bolton ended the game with two goals, eight score involvements, seven inside 50s, five clearances and more than 600 metres gained - but also seven turnovers, including six to half-time.

Turnovers have been an unfortunate theme of Richmond’s start to the season, particularly their opener against Gold Coast, so Bolton and co. will look to tidy things up quickly.

There was plenty to like about the form of Liam Baker (23 disposals, three goals), Dan Rioli (21) and Jack Ross (26), while Dustin Martin (16) did some nice things without winning a stack of the ball.

Well, it’s all over red rover for Richmond.

Port Adelaide’s Charlie Dixon has put through another goal to extend Power’s lead to a whopping 31-points, with just over three minutes left on the clock.

Liam Baker has been a bright spot for the Tigers, with his third goal of the day in this final quarter. But there’s not much he can do from here.

Todd Marshall has kicked another, his fourth of the day, to extend Port Adelaide’s lead to 31-points, with just under six minutes to go.

Richmond kept themselves in it at three-quarter time - with two Liam Baker goals to cut the margin to 11- but the gap is looking almost unapproachable now.

Can the Tigers get six goals in five minutes?

Richmond’s resistance is fading.

Port Adelaide has piled on four quick goals to skip out to a game-high 31 points.

The Power are coming.

Well, those two fantastic Liam Baker goals have been cancelled out as Power goes bang, bang to start the final term.

It was Jackson Mead and Darcy Byrne-Jones with the majors and Port Adelaide have blown the margin back out to 19-points.