Barlow injured as Freo beat Port

Brownlow Medal fancy Michael Barlow suffered what appeared to be a broken leg as the
Dockers cruised to a 57-point AFL victory over Port Adelaide at Subiaco Oval on
Saturday.
Fremantle were leading by 58 points with just six minutes left in the match when
Rhys Palmer slid into Barlow's leg as the teammates competed for a mark.
The impact saw Barlow's leg bend at an extremely awkward angle.
The 22-year-old, who has been a revelation for the Dockers this year, tried to stand
up after taking the mark but immediately fell back to the turf in agony and was
stretchered from the field.
It capped a bitter-sweet day for Fremantle, who also lost defender Antoni Grover to
a suspected hamstring injury and impressive youngster Nat Fyfe to concussion.
The Power trailed by just 10 points at half-time and sensed a chance for victory
with the Dockers reduced to just two fit men on the bench.
But Port, like they've done for much of the past two months, simply gave up the
fight as Fremantle slammed home the first eight goals of the second half to cruise
to the 17.13 (115) to 8.10 (58) win, lifting them two games clear inside the top
four.
For Port, it was their seventh loss of the trot - a new and unwanted record for the
club which is now languishing near the foot of the table with just five wins from 14
rounds.
Ryan Crowley booted a career-best five goals for the Dockers, all coming in the
second half, while Palmer, Barlow, Aaron Sandilands and Hayden Ballantyne were also
impressive.
Michael Johnson gathered 25 possessions in his first AFL game back since his drug
charge, but the 25-year-old committed several costly turnovers and was inaccurate in
front of goal.
Mitch Banner, David Rodan and Danyle Pearce tried hard for the Power, whose only
goal in the second half came just 90 seconds before the final siren when Pearce
dribbled home from a tight angle.
Port Adelaide looked limp early as Fremantle grabbed the game by the scruff of the
neck, registering three goals in the opening five minutes.
Grover and Aaron Sandilands took the score out to 32-1 when they added goals via 50m
penalties before the Power finally showed some fight in the final 10 minutes of the
quarter.
Jay Schulz (two goals) snared a ripper mark and booted a goal late in the term to
lift Port's hopes, but the visitors seemed destined for a luckless afternoon when
Brett Ebert ran into an open goal and kicked truly - only for the quarter-time siren
to sound a split second before the ball reached his boot.
Fremantle's 27-point lead at the first break was a handy one but the Power came out
firing in the second term, booting six goals to three to close the gap to just 10
points at half-time.
But it became the Crowley show in the second half as Port were blown away.



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