AHEAD of their meeting in Round 13 of the 2018 AFL Premiership Season we thought we would look back at one of our favourite clashes between Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs had entered the Round 12, 1997 clash as league leaders, having beaten Geelong a week earlier in a top of the table clash, while Port Adelaide was sitting just outside the top eight in its first season and looking for its first win away from Football Park.

Things started very poorly at Princess Park for the Power with the Bulldogs bursting out of the blocks to take a 40-point lead at the first break. 

Coach John Cahill must have given some kind of quarter time speech because slowly his side pegged back the deficit. 

A four-goal-to-none second quarter saw the margin cut to just 16 points at half time and suddenly the young Power side had a sense of belief. 

Nigel Fiegert was an unlikely hero in the forward line with three goals while Scott Cummings was dominant, booting five as the Power went on to win by 12 points. 

It was that exact margin they still trailed by at the last change but momentum and hard work – led by Brayden Lyle (28 touches) and Roger James (24 touches, 2 goals) in the middle – saw them hit the lead deep in the last quarter before they eventually overran the Premiership favourites. 

In all, Port kicked 13 goals to four after quarter time to stage a remarkable comeback and claim its biggest scalp on the road.

 

PORT ADELAIDE             1.4    5.7    8.10   14.10   (94)                          

WESTERN BULLDOGS     8.2    8.5  10.10   12.10   (82)      

GOALS

Port Adelaide: Cummings 5, Fiegert 3, Eagleton, James 2, Wilson, Francou

Western Bulldogs: Cook 3, Hudson, Smith 2, Brown, Grant, Kolyniuk, Liberatore, West

BEST 

Port Adelaide: Lyle, James, Cummings, Fiegert, Dickie, Wilson 

Western Bulldogs: West, Liberatore, Dimattina, Wynd, Cook

Umpires:  Humphery-Smith, Rich, McCauley 

Crowd: 14,025 at Princes Park

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