Match result: North Ballarat 7.11.53 defeated by Port Melbourne 24.20.164
Venue: North Port Oval, Port Melbourne
Conditions: Sunshine - 21 degrees

In action:
- Liam Anthony (19 disposals, 5 marks, 3 inside 50’s)
- Trent Dumont (33 disposals, 8 marks, 6 clearances, 7 inside 50’s)
- Brad McKenzie (14 disposals, 4 marks)
- Eric Wallace (7 disposals, 42 hit-outs, 9 one-percenters)
- Max Warren (17 disposals, 6 marks, 3 spoils)
- Mitch Wilkins (13 disposals, 3 marks, 4 tackles)

NMFC.com.au's best: Trent Dumont

Matchups
- Max Warren v Daniel Connors
- Liam Anthony v James Magner

Story of the game
With a finals spot secured, North Ballarat travelled to Port Melbourne to play the ladder leaders in the last home and away game of the season.

The Roosters were jumped early, conceding the first six goals of the game to trail by 34 points at quarter time.

They struggled to get in the game after that, unable to control the Boroughs' ball movement. Eventually the visitors succumbed by 111 points.

What the coach said (Development Manager Ben Dyer)
“It was just boys against men, really. Port Melbourne was a lot more physical and aggressive at stoppages.

“They’d get it on the outside and then just run in waves and it was hard to stop.

“We found it hard to have any say in the game from start to finish. It was 44 scoring shots to 18, so that probably tells the story.”

Points of interest
1. On a tough day for Roosters, Trent Dumont emerged as one of the few shining lights.

“I thought he was easily the Roosters’ best. He was able to win his own ball, get through traffic and create something.

“He was really good under a lot of pressure. The smaller ground meant that he was around it all the time and he was really effective inside.”

2. Liam Anthony was uanble to make much impact going forward due to Port Melbourne's dominance. 

“The one-sided nature of the contest meant LA was defending the majority of the time. The ball would turn over and he’d be defending not only (James) Magner, but there’d also be another couple running past him.

Anthony was also limited after a knock. 

“Early in the third he got opened up above his eye, so they were trying to stitch up. Then he couldn’t see out of one eye so that limited his game time. He’ll be ok though.”

3. Considering the Roosters conceded 24 goals for the afternoon, the natural assumption would be that the defenders had a dirty day. 

However it wasn't the case of Max Warren, who acquittied himself well on former Richmond-listed player Daniel Connors.

“Connors is leading the goal-kicking, and Max did a really good job against him. 

“He positioned really well. Connors had been leading up well so he took that away.

“Considering the ease with how Port Melbourne were able to bring the ball in, the effort Max had was really good.”

4. After a quiet game last week, Eric Wallace used  lessons learned against Williamstown to good effect.

“We’ve been telling Eric to be more aggressive in recent times; not in a stupid way but just through being a presence at contests.

“After last week it was apparent to him what he needed to do. Today he was looking to block and hit a body more often.

“It was a step in the right direction for Eric in that regard today.”

Most likely call-up: Trent Dumont
Next week: Elimination Final, date and time TBC