Australian Football League R7 Port Adelaide Power Vs Essendon Bombers 5/7 1210EST

Both the Power and Bombers displayed fourth quarter dominance last weekend to outlast their opponents with the Power coming from behind to win the local derby against the Crows and the Bombers who outpaced the struggling Hawks. The Bombers form has been unpredictable this season, with the club serving up sub-par performances against Collingwood and Fremantle, and then turning it on against the Hawks and Carlton. The Power struggled with similar inconsistencies last year but they appear to have bridged the gap between their best and worst football, with four wins from six starts to be level on points with Geelong and the Brisbane Lions.

There is no love lost between these two teams with power bigman Dean Brogan receiving a suspension for bumping into Andrew Lovett during the quarter time break the last time these two teams met. Essendon coach Matthew Knights has gone on the record as saying there is a lack of respect between the two teams, so there may be fireworks again on Saturday.

The Power will have to watch out for Bombers speedster Nathan Lovett-Murray, who tore the Hawks' zone to pieces last weekend with 32 disposals, five inside 50s and four running bounces. The scampering onballer also showed a willingness to work the other way, laying a game-high 12 tackles in a best-on-ground performance. Power midfielder/forward Robbie Gray earned maximum votes from both coach’s boxes for his five-goal haul in Showdown XXVIII. Gray had minimal impact in his first two games of the season but was the dominant forward for the Power last weekend, finishing with nine scoring opportunities.

Can the Bombers play to their potential come Saturday? Hungry for the contest Essendon laid a club record 107 tackles last week, but it will be interesting to see if Matthew Knights can extract the same effort from his players week in, week out. Can the Power kick enough goals to overcome the high-scoring Bombers? Port Adelaide is ranked 14th in the competition in scores for this season, averaging just 11 goals a game. Essendon has the ability to score heavily and quickly and Port Adelaide will need to be at their defensive best if the club expects to win with a score of 100 points or less.

In conclusion, Essendon was impressive in its win over the struggling Hawks, but has battled against Port Adelaide in recent times. The Power have won the past five games played between the two sides and Mark Williams’ men have showed enough this season to suggest that streak will extend beyond this weekend. For these reasons I'm wagering 2 units on Port Adelaide Power +3.5 (+102) as I believe they win this by two to three goals. The weather forecast says cloudy with a chance of showers, if rain were to occur then I would expect to see the Power dominate with their wet weather on ball specialists.





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