SAM POWELL-PEPPER made a tackle every six minutes in Friday night’s crunch Round 14 win over Melbourne last Friday night to write his name into the Port Adelaide record books.
Powell-Pepper’s 17 tackles against the Demons was a club best in the AFL, surpassing the 15 tackles of Dom Cassisi (2009), Kane Cornes (2010) and Matthew Lobbe (2013).
He also slotted into
Powell-Pepper’s standout effort sees him now averaging 7.0 tackles per game this season behind only Devon Smith (8.2), Daniel Rioli (8.0 – one game only), Ben Ainsworth (8.0), Ed Curnow (7.9), Clayton Oliver (7.4) and Dayne Zorko (7.2).
It was all part of an Adelaide Oval tackle-fest as the Power posted the fourth-highest team tackle count in club history (99), and Port and Melbourne together posted the fourth-highest combined tackle count in a Port game (188).
The team tackle count of 99 is the club’s highest in three years. It jumps the Power to equal top spot on the AFL tackle count for the year, level with the Gold Coast Suns at an average of 77.2 per game.
Port’s highest single-game tackle count is 116 recorded against Richmond at Football Park in 2010, while the highest combined tally was also recorded - a staggering 258.
Dom Cassisi led the Port tackle count that day with 12 as Richmond posted the second-highest tackle count in history with 142, led by Shane Tuck (14), Angus Graham (14), Andrew Collins (12), Shane Edwards (11) and Robin Nahas (10).
The AFL record for most tackles in a game is 155 by Sydney against Melbourne in 2016, when Luke Parker had 17 and Isaac Heeney 13.
Powell-Pepper is one of 22 players to have had 10 or more tackles in an AFL game since Matthew Primus recorded the first double-figure tally with a career-best 10 in 2001.
Former captain Cassisi has had the club’s most double-figure tackle games at 21, following by Brad Ebert (15) and Travis Boak (8).
Cassisi also leads the club in all-time tackles with 1046, ahead of Boak (1021) and Kane Cornes (1003).
PAFC - 10+ TACKLES IN AN AFL GAME – SUMMARY | |||||||||
Player | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Total |
Dom Cassisi | 8 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
|
| 21 |
Brad Ebert | 3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
|
|
| 15 |
Travis Boak | 4 | 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 8 |
Matthew Lobbe | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
| 7 |
Matt Thomas | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
|
|
| 5 |
Sam Powell-Pepper | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Ollie Wines | 2 | 0 | 1 |
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
Peter Burgoyne | 0 | 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
Robbie Gray | 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
Kane Cornes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
| 2 |
Hamish Hartlett | 1 | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 |
Sam Gray | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
|
|
|
| 2 |
Jackson Trengove | 1 | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 |
Andrew Moore | 0 | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Justin Westhoff | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Chad Wingard | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Jared Polec | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Aaron Young | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
David Rodan | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Jason Davenport | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Brent Guerra | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Matthew Primus | 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
MOST TACKLES IN A GAME | |
Tackles | Player |
17 | Sam Powell-Pepper |
15 | Matthew Lobbe |
15 | Kane Cornes |
15 | Dom Cassisi |
14 | Dom Cassisi (3) |
14 | Brad Ebert (3) |
14 | Matt Thomas |
13 | Dom Cassisi (2) |
13 | Matt Thomas (2) |
ALL-TIME TACKLE LEADERS | |
Tackles | Player |
1046 | Dom Cassisi |
1021 | Travis Boak |
1003 | Kane Cornes |
908 | Brad Ebert |
659 | Justin Westhoff |
642 | Robbie Gray |
632 | Peter Burgoyne |
595 | Ollie Wines |
588 | Hamish Hartlett |
540 | Shaun Burgoyne |
The other big statistic to come out of Port’s gritty win over the Demons related to the home team’s magnificent defensive effort, restricting the visitors to fewer points (65) than they had inside 50 entries (68).
It’s not the first time this has happened – in
But it is easily the highest score Port has conceded in a game in which the opposition’s points-per-entry ratio was less than 1.00. The previous highest was 49 points against St.Kilda in
Also on Friday night, Brad Ebert became the 23rd player to play 150 AFL games for Port, and Charlie Dixon enjoyed his 50th career win.
More on portadelaidefc.com.au
