St Kilda and Port Adelaide players come from everywhere as targeted attack sparks huge AFL brawl
Tensions reached boiling point early in Port Adelaide’s Round 4 AFL clash with St Kilda on Sunday as players came from everywhere to fight.
Power midfielder Jason Horne-Francis was lining up for a shot at goal early in the first quarter when Saints tagger Marcus Windhager — who had the job on Port skipper Connor Rozee — ran through the protected area and gave away a 50-metre penalty.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Sparks fly in fiery start to St Kilda v Port Adelaide clash.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Port star Zak Butters was quick to notice the infringement — and who gave it away — and didn’t hesitate to pounce, running straight up to Windhager to remonstrate.
Horne-Francis began running towards the goal square with the umpire while players from both teams descended on Butters and Windhager.
“And now we’ve got a 50-metre penalty, and they all fly into Marcus Windhager — and it’s on! It has spilt over at the Adelaide Oval!” James Brayshaw said on commentary for Channel 7.
“There is some heat in the kitchen. Scenes you don’t see very often in modern footy.”
Geelong great Joel Selwood said it was clear message from Butters.
“Well it would want to be big, because he probably didn’t need to go over there,” he said.
“He wanted to tell St Kilda that it’s going to be around all day, this pressure; if you’re going to make silly mistakes, we’re going to make you pay.”
Nick Riewoldt added: “I reckon it had a bit to do with the fact it was Windhager as well, when he’s the one that’s going after their captain.
“That’s the perfect opportunity to fly the flag for your skipper and get in the face of the opposition tagger.”
Meantime, Port forward Darcy Byrne-Jones could face scrutiny for a high bump on Ryan Byrnes later in the first quarter.
Byrnes dropped a mark and had to turn around to go back to the tumbling ball, putting him on a collision course with Byrne-Jones.
Both players went hard at the ball but Byrne-Jones, who was trying to protect the space, didn’t go low enough and collected Byrnes with his elbow.
Asked about the fireworks in the match at half time, St Kilda defender Callum Wilkie said there was no love lost between the two sides.
“They gave us a touch-up in the pre-season game, and Windy’s doing a role on Rozee, and that’s a team job, we don’t want to leave him one-out,” he said.
“It’s all good fun and that’s footy.”
Originally published on 7NEWS Sport
