Port Adelaide shellshocked Hawthorn in a blitzing first half that no one saw coming before surviving a late scare to secure their second win of the AFL season.

Port Adelaide put 12 of the first 13 goals on the premiership favourites in the first half of the showpiece final game of AFL Gather Round.

“This is all a blur for Hawthorn; a black and teal blur,” Alister Nicholson said on Channel 7.

It was billed as the grudge match of the season after the dramatic events of last year’s semi-final, but no one predicted a first-half landslide — not in the Power’s favour anyway.

Power coach Ken Hinkley was fined $20,000 last September for his fiery post-match exchange with Hawks players Jack Ginnivan and James Sicily.

Ginnivan had pre-emptively told former Collingwood teammate Brodie Grundy, whose current team Sydney was awaiting the winner of the Hawks and Power in the semi, in a public social media post that he would see him in the preliminary final.

When Port Adelaide denied Hawthorn a spot in the prelim, Hinkley made an aeroplane gesture towards Ginnivan, to which Sicily responded with the words “you’ve been a nowhere club for years”.

Hinkley later admitted he regretted the run-in with the opposition players.

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Given the drama of last year, it was no surprise that the AFL pitted the two sides against each other on Gather Round’s biggest stage.

But it was the Hawks, who were undefeated from their first four games, who were the raging favourites heading into the game.

Port Adelaide, meantime, had won just one game from their first four, appearing to struggle under the scrutiny of their highly criticised coaching succession plan between Hinkley and incoming coach Josh Carr.

With four minutes to go in the first half, Port Adelaide had opened up a blinding 70-point lead, having inexplicably restricted the Hawks to just one goal.

“Well, it’s looking highly unlikely, but worth putting on the table; if Hawthorn were to come back now, it would be the greatest comeback in the history of the game,” Nicholson said just before half time.

Hawthorn finally kicked their first goal of the second quarter with 72 seconds left on the clock, and made it two in a row when Lloyd Meek kicked a set shot from 50 metres just moments from half time.

There was physical retribution in the eyes of both sides early in the match, with spot fires appearing consistently throughout the match.

Hawthorn cut the lead to as narrow as 20 points but couldn’t land the killer blow as Port Adelaide settled with some late pain to secure a 30-point win.