Port star faces nervous wait after awkward bump

Port Adelaide Brownlow hopeful Zak Butters may face scrutiny for a late bump on Fremantle’s Bailey Banfield during the Power’s three-point win at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

Banfield was hunting the ball at ground level when Butters swooped in, with his hip making contact with the Fremantle player’s head.

There was no free kick given and Banfield played out the remaining two minutes of the intense match, but the contact from Butters did briefly keep Banfield on the turf.

Butters looked to have his eyes firmly on the football, but the act may be deemed careless as he didn’t also look to protect the head of Banfield.

Apart from his later blunder, Butters notched up 24 disposals, with skipper Connor Rozee collecting 26 and Dan Houston having 27.

Meanwhile, Port Adelaide proved that good teams don’t always win easy, or pretty, when coach Ken Hinkley went head-to-head with Power forward Charlie Dixon at the quarter time break.

Dixon expressed frustration that his Power teammates were unable to deliver the ball to the prime position for him, with Hinkley attempting to calm him down.

The veteran forward went on to kick two majors in the win, both after quarter time.

A fired-up Dixon kicked two.

Port Adelaide now have four wins out of their five appearances this season, sitting in second on the ladder.

In a surprise statistic, it was the first time since round 14, 2001 that a match between these two sides hasn’t included either Dockers legend Matthew Pavlich or Power champion Travis Boak.

Boak was out of the match due to a back injury he sustained against the Bombers in round four.

The Power now face Collingwood at the MCG, while Fremantle, who have now lost two games in a row, drop the seventh on the ladder and face the Eagles.