Port Adelaide coach, Ken Hinkley, admitted his side did not handle the pressure around the football as well as the Kangaroos did.
Hamish Hartlett at Port Adelaide training. Picture: SARAH REED. Source: News Corp Australia
PORT Adelaide's claim as the AFL's fittest team is not enough to also establish the Power as a top-four contender.
Premiership-winning veteran Kane Cornes acknowledged this as the Power dealt with the lessons of the seven-point loss to North Melbourne that highlighted the Port players need strong minds to match their fast legs.
Cornes praised the Kangaroos for putting the Power under "amazing pressure - the best pressure we have faced for a fair amount of time" - and exposing his young teammates to invaluable lessons not on offer in fitness training at Alberton.
"The lesson is - when we are challenged - continue to play the way we know is successful," Cornes said.
"The group was exposed to amazing pressure (on Sunday when the Power conceded a last-quarter lead). And when that happens you have to keep playing our way; don't go safe - and take the game on. That is our strength.
"North Melbourne forced us to over-handball the ball - and that put us under more pressure. We're finding our way through the balance of kick-handball (ratios)," added Cornes.
Port Adelaide expect their star recruit Jared Polec to cop plenty of attention when he faces his former club, Brisbane Lions, for the first time.
The Power returns to Adelaide Oval on Saturday to celebrate its 2004 AFL premiership triumph when it hosts Brisbane, the club it dethroned at the MCG a decade ago when the Lions were billed as football's greatest-ever team after winning three consecutive flags.
Port will return to its 2004 jumper, the team's inaugural AFL guernsey with the teal top and black base to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the club's ultimate triumph from the extraordinary rivalry between the Power and Lions in 2001-04.
The match will mark the first test of the Oval's drawing power to football fans after a fortnight of "firsts" with the Showdown opening and the Crows' first home game on Saturday. And Cornes notes the Port fans have a major role against the Lions while the Power players are still trying to learn how to gain on-field advantages at the Oval.
"With the way our supporters turned out for the Showdown it should not take too long (to make the Oval into a Power fortress)," Cornes said.
"We still need to learn as a group how to play the Oval, but it is a fast ground and lends itself to high-scoring football. The teams that can defend the best and reduce the opposition's attacking options are the ones that are going to have the most success.
"We just need to continue to fine tune our defence, defend really hard, tackle hard and win contested footy and the fans will come and make it a loud and hostile place."
Port yesterday trained on the Oval and declared All-Australian Chad Wingard (ankle) would join fellow small forward Angus Monfries (hamstring) on the sidelines with injury. However, key forward Jay Schulz (foot) is clear to play.
Power assistant coach Josh Carr declared Monfries should not spend more than a month on the sidelines - and Port had enough depth to passd the injury test posed while senior coach Ken Hinkley rethinks how to re-structure his attack without the opportunist duo of Wingard and Monfries.
"We definitely have guys in good form in the Magpies," said Carr. "Aaron Young is a chance, Sam Gray is a chance, Paul Stewart, Cam O'Shea, Sam Colquhoun ... there are a number for players there who we think they can come in to full those positions if we go like-for-like or something else. We are confident anyone who comes into our team can play the role."
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Fitness not enough for Port
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Fitness not enough for Port
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