Power thrash Essendon in AFL rout

Essendon coach Ben Rutten has slammed his players’ “embarrassing” effort in an 84-point thrashing from Port Adelaide that marked the heaviest defeat of his two-year tenure at the AFL club.

A run of nine consecutive Power goals from late in the first quarter to early in the third put the contest to bed before the visitors ran away with a dominant 23.8 (146) to 9.8 (62) win at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

Port’s total was the most points the 15th-placed Bombers have conceded in a single match in more than five years.

“We’re bitterly disappointed,” Rutten said.

“Our supporters and members that came to the game and watching on TV, it’s not the sort of thing they should have to watch.

“It was an embarrassing effort and output from our guys.”

Jeremy Finlayson celebrates a goal for the Power. Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Young star Zak Butters (25 disposals, three goals) and ruck-forward Jeremy Finalyson (25, two) were outstanding for Port Adelaide and Sam Powell-Pepper kicked a game-high four goals.

Mitch Georgiades responded to his week in the reserves with three goals on return alongside fellow tall Todd Marshall, who kicked two after a week out under health and safety protocols.

Essendon midfielder Dylan Shiel (27 disposals, 12 clearances) won plenty of ball but the Bombers lacked players capable of taking the fight to their opponents and were sliced apart with ease.

Rutten, whose coaching position was under threat when Essendon announced a mid-year football department review, had seemingly steered himself to safety with signs of improvement in the team’s performances during the second half of the season.

But shambolic back-to-back defeats to fellow bottom-half sides GWS and Port Adelaide will spark further speculation about the 39-year-old’s future.

Rutten said the Power shellacking had not shaken his belief in where he can take the Bombers next year and beyond.

“It’s never going to be a smooth-sailing, clean progression to becoming a great team but performances like that is not stuff that we can tolerate or accept, and we won’t,” Rutten said.

“It really hurts. It hurts me, it hurts the players and everyone who’s putting in to try to get us where we want to get to.”

Port Adelaide kicked nine goals in a dominant final term to put the icing on the cake, ending a four-match losing skid in ruthless fashion.

“We’ve had a pretty tough time over the last four or five weeks where we’ve played the absolute cream of the crop in the competition and we haven’t been able to get a result,” Power coach Ken Hinkley said.

“We’ve been really close but not been able to get the job done, so it was good to come over here and put a score on the board, which we think we’re capable of but haven’t really done that often.”