Rising star Mitch Georgiades kicked three goals as AFL ladder leaders Port Adelaide bounced back to form with a thumping 51-point win over Melbourne on Thursday night.
Travis Boak and Ollie Wines led the way in a dominant Power midfield unit in the first of four games in 16 days for the club amid the competition’s fixture squeeze.
First-round draft pick Georgiades was one of eight goal kickers for Port Adelaide in the 12.11 (83) to 4.8 (32) victory at the Gabba as they recovered from last week’s shock defeat to St Kilda in fine style.
It was a familiar tale for Melbourne as they let themselves down with a deplorable skill level across the ground that made life difficult for their leading forwards.
Tall trio Tom McDonald, Sam Weideman and Luke Jackson were picked to give the Demons multiple marking targets in attack but had limited impact.
Most of the blame lay further up the ground as a succession of turnovers left the forwards and coach Simon Goodwin frustrated.
Christian Petracca had 24 disposals but was part of an on-ball division that repeatedly butchered the ball and was well beaten.
Making matters worse for the Dees, key midfielder Clayton Oliver was reported for striking after he caught Peter Ladhams high with a late elbow.
Cleaner and faster ball movement on the outside gave the Power good scoring opportunities all night and they made most of them count.
Connor Rozee and Justin Westhoff complemented Georgiades with two goals each.
The 18-year-old was taken with pick 18 at last year’s draft despite missing the entire season with a quad injury and has now kicked six goals in his first three games.
Boak had 25 disposals and eight clearances despite hurting his right shoulder, which was already strapped, during the third quarter.
Max Gawn dominated his aerial battle with Port’s back-up ruckman Ladhams but the Demons failed to make it count and were smashed in inside 50s (47-31).
Port Adelaide face the tough ask of travelling home and backing up on a four-day break for Monday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs, while Melbourne meet the Crows in Adelaide on Wednesday.
