Port Adelaide led by the barest margin for the shortest time on Sunday, but it was the right time to have their noses in front, as a stunning soccered goal from Darcy Byrne-Jones with two seconds remaining capped a miracle win that left Hawthorn heartbroken.
Earlier, the Hawks’ emerging midfield ran riot in the greasy conditions, their lead ballooning to 41 points deep in the third term.
But from that moment, Hawthorn halted to a standstill, completely swamped by Port’s 6.7 to 0.1 sprint to the finish line.
Hawthorn led the inside-50s 44-25 at three-quarter-time before being snowed under as the Power flipped the script dramatically to win the count 23-4 in the fourth term.
Willie Rioli converted a free kick with 22 seconds remaining to reduce the Hawks’ advantage to five points.
From the next centre bounce, Zak Butters pumped the ball long into attack where Jed McEntee tackled Karl Amon and the ball bobbled free into the path of Byrne-Jones, whose volley had the parochial crowd in raptures.
“Enormously disappointed,” Hawks coach Sam Mitchell said. “I thought the players left it all out there.
“The rational part of my mind is sure there were some positives in the game somewhere, (but) the emotional part of me is not feeling any of them just at the minute.”
The Power unleashed their finest comeback since Ken Hinkley’s fifth game as coach, in 2013 against West Coast at Football Park, when they overturned an identical 41-point third-quarter deficit.
Hawthorn were pinned on the back foot virtually for the entirety of the fourth term.
Sam Mitchell’s team started strongly but by the end of the day he was looking for answers to a disappointing loss.Credit: Getty Images
“The way they (Port) set the game up in the last quarter was pretty smart,” Mitchell said.
“It wasn’t our plan to play in a defensive manner, we would have loved to continue to score and find a way [to attack].
“One of our learnings from the game was thinking about how we can find ways to score when we’re in front.
“The natural instinct is to tighten everything up and play conservatively … [but] we just couldn’t control the narrative of the game in the last 10 minutes.”
Ollie OK after heart scare
For the second time in his career, Ollie Wines was forced to substitute out of a match after suffering heart palpitations, but the Power expect he’ll play against North Melbourne next week.
The star midfielder went to his haunches in clear discomfort inside the final 90 seconds of the opening quarter before retreating gingerly to the bench and failing to return.
He was officially ruled out of the match early in the second term.
Wines suffered a similar issue in 2022 against Melbourne, when he subbed out feeling nauseous and dizzy.
On that occasion, he was sent to hospital, where he stayed overnight, and a heart irregularity was detected. But no hospital trips were required on Sunday.
“Ollie has dealt with this condition for a while now,” Power coach Ken Hinkley said.
“Ollie’s actually well,” Hinkley confirmed. “He’s had it happen twice in games, and it’s happened before in games.
“He’s really comfortable about it, really calm.
“Ollie diagnosed it onfield, and he came off on his own accord because he knew.
“We expect Ollie to play next week.”
Port’s bigger concern is young backman Josh Sinn, who hurt his collarbone in a heavy collision with James Worpel with five minutes remaining in the match.
Swingman hard to stop
Blake Hardwick spearheaded Hawthorn’s stunning early burst by bagging four first-quarter goals from as many kicks.
Blake Hardwick hitting the scoresheet for the Hawks.Credit: Getty
His fourth stretched the Hawks’ cushion to 31 points and equalled his previous career-best haul, which he also achieved at Adelaide Oval, against Collingwood during Gather Round, when he was first swung into attack.
The experienced defender-turned-forward outmarked Ryan Burton late in the third stanza before slotting his new career-best fifth – all from set shots and all to the River End.
Later, Hardwick was thrown into defence as a spare player in a forlorn attempt to stymie the Power’s incredible fourth-quarter surge.
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