Portarlington has kept alive its hopes of playing finals for the first time since 1994 after overcoming a slow start to beat Anglesea by 16 points in a historic day at Ellimatta Reserve.
Trailing by 19 points at quarter time, the accurate Demons used a stunning 8.2 to 1.4 second quarter to record a 17.5 (107) to 13.13 (91) result.
The victory was Portarlington’s first win on the Roos’ home ground since 2014, and it was the first time Port has won four consecutive matches since Round 5, 1994.
1994 was also the last time Port won at least seven matches in a season.
“It was super for the club to be able to celebrate that after the game,” coach Sam Scott said.
“But the club hasn’t won eight games in 32 years either, so that’s the next one for us.
“We haven’t played finals in 32 years either, so there are boxes that still need to be ticked.
“The hunger is really there from the group. And after a few good wins, we feel like we can beat anyone.”
A 19-point deficit at the first change would have seen Portarlington teams of recent history turn up their toes.
However, Scott says there was no panic against an Anglesea outfit missing several key players, including playing coach Jordan Keras.
“We just probably let them play their fast brand of footy too much in the first quarter,” Scott said.
“We just got back to winning the contest and just taking the sting out of it a bit, and found a few more marks and a few more uncontested possessions.
“Once we got the momentum back, we just really put our foot down.
“The message was about doing what we’ve been doing the last few weeks, which is just staying really calm with the footy and backing ourselves in.”
Veteran ruck Scott Greenhough was a standout in the ruck, while also taking the opportunity to go forward and kick three goals.
Scott was full of praise for Teia Miles’s performance.
“His leadership’s just been shining through over the last few weeks,” he said
“His way to just turn a game on its head in a couple of minutes is super… he was a real barometer for us out there today.”
In more positive news for Portarlington, Scott will extend his playing career into 2027.
Miles, Greenhough, captain Mitch Turnbull, who kicked a team-high four goals, Tom Panuccio, Kelly Pickard, Riley Hayden and Nick Lane have also committed for next year.
“15 of the boys that played today recommitted, and the ones that haven’t are going to,” Scott said.
“It just shows that they believe in what we’re doing, and it gives us such stability to start planning for 2027.”
Portarlington will face Torquay in arguably its biggest match since the 1994 grand final next week.
Former Geelong West star Patrick Eastman successfully negotiated the Demons’ narrow reserve grade loss to Anglesea, and along with Braydon Poole, who was sidelined on Saturday, will be in contention for selection to take on the Tigers.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for us,” Scott said.
“We’ve been in some really good form, but Torquay are just a monster of the competition; we’re really excited.
“We spoke about it straight after the game. That’s our next big challenge.
“It’s just about, yeah, ticking another box. We’ll prepare as well as we can, and we’ll be really excited to take them on next week.”
Spearhead Ayden Gras and big man Camdyn Hutchinson each kicked three goals for Anglesea, which hosts Barwon Heads in a potential elimination final preview.
X: @krockfootball
