Davis injury puts playing future in doubt as Port Adelaide add to Giants’ pain

Greater Western Sydney veteran Phil Davis’ playing future is in doubt after he suffered a seemingly serious hamstring injury in the Giants’ comprehensive loss to Port Adelaide.

Davis hobbled slowly off Adelaide Oval in a great deal of pain after hurting his right hamstring while attempting to spoil opponent Charlie Dixon’s mark in the opening minute of the second half.

Phil Davis is helped from the ground after hurting his hamstring.Credit:AFL Photos

Davis had only returned to the team a fortnight ago following a three-month stint on the sidelines after he tore his left hamstring against Richmond, a setback which saw him break down in tears, fearing his career was over.

The Giants’ first-ever signing, inaugural captain and arguably the expansion franchise’s most respected warrior, Davis turns 32 next month and comes out of contract at season’s end.

In the last minute of that brutal third quarter, Adam Kennedy’s evening ended with a concussion after he copped an accidental, errant foot to the head from airborne Power forward Mitch Georgiades.

Pure ladder positions pointed to this being a closely fought battle between a pair of mid-table battlers. But in reality – and it was evident from very early on Saturday night – that was never going to be the case.

The 12th-ranked Power are one of the competition’s in-form teams, now in the thick of the hunt to pinch a top-eight berth, having salvaged their season from a ragged 0-5 start, while 13th-placed GWS are a long way off that pace. At best, the Giants are merely the best of the league’s six worst teams.

Harry Himmelberg of the Giants and the Power’s Sam Powell-Pepper and Todd Marshall vie for the ball.Credit:AFL Photos

The Power have been at pains in recent weeks to hose down speculation linking coach Ken Hinkley to the GWS coaching job in 2023. Right now, he has a superior team at his disposal.

Tough-as-teak Sam Powell-Pepper remains in career-best nick, Zak Butters was as creative as any player on the field in his return from a knee injury, while fellow 2018 super draftee Connor Rozee started and finished many of Port’s dangerous forward thrusts.

Rozee began the match in the centre square before drifting forward and nailing three first-half goals – more than GWS’ entire team, the visitors’ only two majors to that point coming from Jesse Hogan.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Finlayson, originally a Giants Academy graduate and playing his first game against his former side, proved a handful with his agility and versatility around the ground for GWS ruckman Matt Flynn.

Todd Marshall goaled twice in as many minutes in the opening term – after twice having the measure of Sam Taylor in one-on-ones – to help Port push ahead by 16 points at quarter-time.

Superboot Kane Farrell blazed an easy-as-you-like 50-metre bomb to start the second term.
Port’s pressure was through the roof; the Giants’ was non-existent. Their goalkicking was wonky too.

A slew of eminently gettable missed set shots sabotaged GWS’ bid to get back into the contest and the margin swelled to 44 points when Dixon goaled early in the third stanza.

The Power had much-needed percentage on their mind but they stalled somewhat after half-time.
But as the fourth quarter wound down, Powell-Pepper ended Port’s dry spell with a wonderful six-pointer, Rozee sent through his fourth and Georgiades applied some finishing touches with a superb snap.

The Power, armed with serious momentum, are now 0.3 of a per cent behind 11th-placed Gold Coast.

ALIIR AWRY
Aliir Aliir, who played his 100th AFL match last week against Fremantle in Perth, had a prime opportunity to slot his sixth career goal and first in Power colours as the home side got right on top in the second term.

The former Sydney Swan crept forward and snaffled a mark inside-50 after being spotted up by Marshall. But Aliir couldn’t snap his individual goal drought, which extends back to 2019, missing the set shot with a typical backman’s shot.

PORT ADELAIDE 4.2 8.6 9.9 12.12 (84)
GWS 1.4 2.4 3.9 3.11 (29)

GOALS
Port Adelaide: Rozee 4, Farrell 2, Marshall 2, Dixon, Powell-Pepper, Bergman, Georgiades.
GWS: Hogan 2, Greene.
BEST
Port Adelaide: Rozee, Powell-Pepper, Butters, Finlayson, Wines, Boak, Farrell.
GWS: Coniglio, Taranto, Hogan, Ward, Kelly.
UMPIRES Johanson, Nicholls, Rebeschini
CROWD 24,744 at Adelaide Oval.

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