THIS is the story of a day in the football life of Dom Cassisi. It comes straight from the Boys' Own Annual.

Cassisi is one of Port Adelaide's designated taggers, meaning that week after slogging week he chases after the best players in the competition without attracting much attention himself. Yesterday, at Skilled Stadium, it was no different; he stood Gary Ablett from the first bounce.

For 118 of the 120 minutes of a pulsating game between numbers one and two on the ladder, Cassisi did his job. He harangued the Brownlow Medal favourite, assisted by the fact that Ablett was carrying a sore knee from a collision with Darryl Wakelin. Ablett had found plenty of the ball, but mostly deep in defence where it did not hurt the opposition.

But Ablett is a champion to be sure, and not even the niggardly Cassisi would keep him quiet for the whole day. Port had controlled the match, sneaking to a 17-point lead mid-way through the final quarter, only to see Steve Johnson rally the Cats. At 29 minutes, with Geelong's desperation growing, Ablett gathered the football at half-forward from Brad Ottens' handball, and proceeded to step through one, two and then three tackles, steady himself and drill one of the goals of the year.

Geelong had the lead for the first time since the opening minutes and the partisan crowd roared its approval. Cassisi was one of three Port players strewn in the wreckage behind the little master, having missed a tackle when he most needed to stick it. Even up in the Port coach's box, Ablett won some plaudits. "Isn't he a star?" said coach Mark Williams later. "Bloody hell. You sit back and think 'how good was that'?"

Two minutes to go, and Port looked to have let go a perfect opportunity to topple the runaway league leader. But there was a final chapter to be written.

At 32 minutes, and under immense pressure at half-forward, Henry Playfair was crushed in a tackle by Justin Westhoff, and the ball spilled free. Cassisi, the humble tagger with just seven goals to his name this season, ran on to it, with Ablett in his wake this time. Here was the irony of the day.

Off a step or two, Cassisi banged it on his non-preferred left boot. The clock had fewer than 10 seconds remaining. The ball veered low and right, then back to the left and through for the matchwinner. It was a first for Cassisi. "Never, not even in juniors," he said later. "It's pretty special. Instinct took over."

By the time the last centre bounce was effected, there were just three seconds remaining; the previous weekend in Launceston, Brett Ebert had won it for Port, also with three seconds to run. Redemption was sweet; for Cassisi had wondered if Ablett had stolen the match a couple of minutes earlier.

"I was disappointed, you know," he said later. "'I didn't think he did a lot all day, but he's such a class player, he's very hard to tackle, and around the goals he's just so damaging. Give him a chance and he'll kick a goal, and that's what happened. So I was disappointed with that, but to turn it around, I was happy with that at the same time."

Williams thought the game had been "just like a final", such was the defensive intensity. And the whimsical Port coach was able to crack a few gags later when asked if he thought Port had blown it.

"I'd have been kicking the cats," he said. "Not that I have cats. I don't like cats. They should be registered in South Australia. I would have been disappointed if we'd lost it."

At the siren, the players mobbed Cassisi, the battler who did the deed, and they all went to Wakelin, who had torn a groin and was in tears, unsure if he will step on to an AFL field again.

For Cassisi, the book was closed. "It's probably never going to happen again," he said. "We'll enjoy it for now, then think about Freo next week."