World Footy News

An appreciative and vocal crowd in Alice Springs watched a determined Port Adelaide Power kick start their finals prospects with a resounding win against the Melbourne Demons. The final score saw the Power 18 7 115 defeat the Demons 8 6 54.

For the Port Adelaide crew the visit to the Northern Territory saw their fourth win of the season, seeing them now sit just a game outside the top eight after an indifferent start to the season so far. For the Demons it was a lost opportunity to be in that same boat and instead sit two games adrift of the current top eight.

But the biggest winner was perhaps Northern Territory football. Once again the crowd nudged 5000 people and showcased the game to an enthusiastic Central Australian audience, a part of the country where the game is played with passion the equal of anywhere else in Australia.

Whilst the crowd was around 700 people less than the corresponding match at TIO Traeger Park in 2014, these crowds are significant when considering the overall sparse population of the regions surrounding Alice Springs. With a population of just over 25,000 people, the equivalent of one in five locals have been attending the Alice Springs fixture in recent years. Certainly the playing of this fixture during the Indigenous Round has a symbiotic connection to the aboriginal people of the Northern Territory and for that reason alone should be kept as a permanent fixture in future years.

The game at TIO Traeger Park is the first of two matches scheduled to be played in the Northern Territory in 2015. The second will be played at TIO Stadium in Darwin on July 4th when the Melbourne Demons host the West Coast Eagles in their Round 14 clash.

The match saw the Demons make the early running, taking a small lead to the quarter-time break. But a 6 goal blitz by Port Adelaide during the second half of the second quarter turned the game around. From there the Power slammed home a further 10 goals to 2 in the second half to run away with a 61 point victory.

The AFLNT will no doubt work hard at securing more matches in “The Alice’ and Darwin from the 2016 AFL fixture, either through more NAB Challenge pre-season matches or the bigger drawing premiership matches similar to recent years.

Final Scores: Port Adelaide 18 7 115 d Melbourne 8 6 54

Goals Port: Schulz 4, Monfries 3, Westhoff 2, Wingard 2, Amon, Gray, Stewart, White, Krakouer, Ebert, Hartlett

Goals Melb: Hogan 2, Garlett 2, Spencer, Lumumba, M Jones, Fitzpatrick

Best Port: Ebert, Boak, Gray, Wines, Schulz, Wingard, Hartlett

Best Melb: Brayshaw, N Jones, McDonald, Hogan, Garland

Crowd: 4866 people at TIO Traeger park. Alice Springs