Young star Jason Horne-Francis had to be calmed down by three key Port Adelaide figures after tempers flared between him and old teammates from North Melbourne during a fiery clash at Adelaide Oval.
Horne-Francis was outstanding against the club that selected him first overall at the 2021 draft, booting one goal from 27 disposals, 12 contested possessions, seven inside 50s, seven score involvements and six clearances in the Power’s hard-fought nine-point win.
But the 21-year-old let his emotions get the better of him in a fiery few minutes to close the third quarter.
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The Kangaroos kicked three goals in three minutes, with the last to Luke Davies-Uniacke, who received a free kick and a 50m penalty after a spiteful off-the-ball clash between Horne-Francis and Jy Simpkin that led to a heated push-and-shove.
“Horne-Francis is in the middle of it — as you’d expect — the ex-Kangaroo. They’re letting him know,” Fox Footy commentator Dwayne Russell said.
Crows legend Mark Ricciuto added: “The Power leaders need to get together and rally the troops and compose themselves.
“There’s a game to be won. They can’t be giving away silly frees like that. Horne-Francis has had a big game so far, but don’t undo your good work with giving away stupid free kicks.”
Speaking to Fox Footy post-game, Horne-Francis conceded he “just got a bit frustrated”.
“I’m still trying to learn from those moments and keep my cool a little bit more,” he said.
“It was just a little one-time thing in the game. I just need to keep getting better at it, keep talking to people and keep finding ways I can control myself.”
The Power led by 12 points at three-quarter time, with a hot-under-the-collar Horne-Francis counselled by Ken Hinkley, Connor Rozee and Butters.
“Horne-Francis has been involved in verbal and physical confrontations with ex-teammates,” Fox Footy’s Jason Dunstall said on commentary.
“Here’s Kenny’s in the huddle, there’s Butters and the skipper Connor Rozee — they’re all trying to calm him down. They had to drag him back so Ken could finish talking to him!
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“This is massive. They’ve got to control his emotions because they know how important he is to getting Port over the line in the last quarter.”
Horne-Francis’ fire and brimstone prompted extensive discussion among the greats on Fox Footy’s Super Saturday coverage.
“I love that vision. I love that they had to pull him back and control him,” four-time premiership star Shaun Burgoyne said.
But Ricciuto suggested Horne-Francis was “semi out of control”.
“He’s hardly listening. He wanted to walk away. When he did walk away, you could see that the coach and the captain were going: ‘We’re going to have to keep an eye on him here,’” Ricciuto said.
“You know what? Players like that can rip the last quarter to bits — or they could cost you the game. You don’t know what you’re going to get.”
Asked what Hinkley, Butters and Rozee discussed with him at the final change, Horne-Francis said: “I just think for me to go out there and play my natural game, which is being first to the footy and hunting the ball and not worrying too much about the other stuff.
“You’ve just got to control the controllables — and that’s what they were telling me.”
Port showed great resilience to hang on for the win that improved its record to 4-3, while the Kangaroos fell to 1-6 with the result — their 13th loss at Adelaide Oval from 13 attempts.
“It was a heated contest,” Horne-Francis said. “They (brought) their best today – and their best is pretty good – so we had to try and match it.
“Credit to them, they played a really good brand of footy. We were just happy to hang on in the end.”
— with NCA NewsWire
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