PORT ADELAIDE beat Essendon by 54 points to on Saturday afternoon in its first home game of 2021 at Adelaide Oval.

Port booted the opening five goals of the game and steadily grew the lead as the game went on to maintain its unbeaten start to the season.

Here are some key things we learned from the game.

1) Plenty of avenues to goal

In 2020, Charlie Dixon booted 34 of Port Adelaide’s 183 goals or 19 per cent. There were 23 different goal kickers across the season. It’s a small sample size but with ten goal kickers in Round 1 and nine in Round 2, the club is showing it is more than just Dixon in the forward line. In all there have been 13 goalkickers across the two games and Mitch Georgiades’ ability to step in at late notice as an injury replacement for Todd Marshall and boot four goals shows there is depth out of the side as well.

2) Port can score

While we are on the topic scoring, Port Adelaide is second only to Sydney for total goals scored. The Swans have 37 goals so far and Port 35. The next best are Adelaide, Richmond and West Coast on 26. Port Adelaide’s success appears to be built on getting the ball into the forward line a lot and winning the contested possession. With 302 contested possessions, Port leads the competition, seven ahead of the next best Western Bulldogs. Interestingly Richmond has had the most inside 50s in the competition after two rounds with 133 while Port is second with Port’s 122 and Sydney third with 120.

3) Fantasia’s moment

Much of the attention was on how Essendon would approach former player Orazio Fantasia on Saturday. The speedy forward was into the action immediately, getting hold of the ball in the middle and booting it long inside 50 for Charlie Dixon to run onto the first goal of the day. Fantasia might have been affected by some nerves, booting two behinds before he finally got his first goal to the delight of a vocal home crowd and his new Port Adelaide teammates, who all rushed in to celebrate. It was a nice moment with Fantasia putting on two tackles, the first on Jye Caldwell and the second on Andrew McGrath, to win a holding the ball decision and give him the chance to get his first goal at Adelaide Oval in Port Adelaide colours. He got the final say as well with his second goal coming off a snap after some strong forward pressure by Steven Motlop and Travis Boak.

4) Career bests galore

Zak Butters was outstanding on Saturday. He got the ball rolling with a goal after just four minutes when he floated in front of Charlie Dixon for a mark and nailed the resulting set shot. His final tally of 36 disposals was a career best, smashing his previous best of 24, while he also recorded career bests for kicks (12), handballs (24) and clearances (six). Butters wasn’t alone either. Mitch Georgiades’s four goals was a career best, plus the young forward recorded a career-high 13 disposals, career-high eight marks and career best 100% goal accuracy. Willem Drew’s 25 disposals was a career-best, well in excess of his 16.8 disposal career average across his 12 matches.

It wasn’t just the young guys getting it done either. Karl Amon had a career-high seven marks having averaged 3.3 marks per game across his 80 matches and vice-captain Ollie Wines had 38 disposals – the best of his career, beating the 35 disposals he has previously had on four occasions. He is now averaging 34 disposals in 2021, well up on his 24.4 disposal career average.

5) Houston can roost’em

Dan Houston has been among Port’s best in both games this year. His composure under pressure and foot skills have been something to behold. His pass onto the chest of Charlie Dixon for the big fella’s second goal on Saturday was an absolute bullet and would have made it hard for any defender in the competition to stop, while his goal in the last quarter off one step from 45 metres out showed he could also find the big sticks himself. Houston was another to record a career high on Saturday (for kicks with 21) but he fell just short of a career-best for metres gained. His 657 metres gained at Adelaide Oval has only been surpassed by the 688 he recorded in the 2020 Preliminary Final against Richmond. Across his career, Houston averages 307.7 metres gained but is running at 626 metres gained on average so far in 2021.