Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams knows his brash young team broke a lot of conventions by reaching last year’s grand final a mere three years after winning a premiership.
How those players respond to the unique pressures brought by their unexpected success in 2007 – and by an abject failure in the grand final – will be a key factor in the Power’s effort to push closer to the ultimate success in 2008.
Williams agreed it was possible for the Power to need to cope with an inferior final result this season, as his team matures into the sort of hardened group that traditionally wins on the last day in September.
“That’s the truth, last year we had a lot of things fall in our favour, we won a lot of close games, our injury rate was fantastic,” he said.
“You factor all those things in and we had an outstanding improvement on the season before, both individually and also as a club as far as our results were.
“If you look at the age of the group and the experience of the group, typically ours has got some improvement in age and experience to be in that demographic that wins premierships.
“We’d like to think we can do it quicker, and we certainly don’t put any limits on where we’re going, so they surprised us last year and I’d be very happy to be surprised again.”
Williams is mindful that the fleet of young players who enjoyed break-out years in 2007, including Justin Westhoff, Brett Ebert, Troy Chaplin, Alipate Carlile, Travis Boak and Robbie Gray, must now be prepared for some lean times as well.
Westhoff in particular seems a candidate for a “sophomore slump”, after an anonymous display in the grand final and increased scrutiny from the 15 other clubs.
This, reckoned Williams, is where Warren Tredrea must come to the fore, as a greatly improved force from the knee surgery outpatient he plainly was for most of 2007.
“Last year he (Tredrea) probably got a bit of a free ride, there were a few games where we were winning so it was okay to go with it, but from what we’ve seen in practice games and training he looks a lot better than what he was, so we think there’ll be some good improvement there,” Williams said.
“(Westhoff) will play better because Warren Tredrea’s playing as well.
“If they want to spend all their time with Justin Westhoff, Warren Tredrea will pop up and kick six and he can do that.
“With Brett Ebert and Daniel Motlop as small forwards down there, we’re going to have a pretty exciting forward line.”
Tredrea’s preseason progress has been the subject of much chatter, and though Williams baulked at offering any empirical data to confirm restored spring, he did not hesitate to say the spearhead would be capable of dominating in 2008.
“In just viewing as maybe a racehorse trainer might do, I know they use stop watches, but he certainly looks energetic, he can turn, he can sprint, he can stop, he can jump, probably none of those he could do last year,” he said.
“He’s got a spring in his step which is good for the whole group.”
Not so good for Williams is his acknowledgement Port are still some distance from finding an adequate replacement for the Power’s heartbeat, Michael Wilson.
Port’s slim hopes of getting close to Geelong snapped painfully with Wilson’s Achilles in the preliminary final against North Melbourne, and he is not expected to be back until mid-season.
“As much as anyone we missed in the grand final we missed Michael, his exuberance and strength at the ball really led the way,” said Williams.
“If you look at the last time we made the grand final we had Josh Carr, Damien Hardwick and Roger James, and Michael Wilson, so none of those players were playing in that grand final last year.”
If the next Wilson can be found, then Port Adelaide may prove capable of building another premiership tilt.
If not, Power fans may need to be prepared for another season or two of finals pain before the summit is reached again.
PORT ADELAIDE
Coach: Mark WilliamsCaptain: TBC
Last five years: 4-1-6-12-2
Premierships: 1 (2004)
Star five: Shaun Burgoyne, Chad Cornes, Kane Cornes, Peter Burgoyne, Brendon Lade
One to watch: Robbie Gray – Showed plenty in his debut season, particularly with a four-goal haul against Essendon that earned a Rising Star nomination. He and Justin Westhoff shape as the future of the Power attack.
Ins: Mitch Farmer (Calder U18), Matthew Lobbe (Eastern U18) Marlon Motlop (Wanderers) Matthew Westhoff (Central District).
Outs: Josh Mahoney (retired), Brad Symes (Adelaide), Darryl Wakelin (retired).Best line-up:
B: Alipate Carlile, Toby Thurstans, Jacob Surjan
HB: Peter Burgoyne, Troy Chaplin, Michael Pettigrew
C: Domenic Cassisi, Kane Cornes, Danyle Pearce
HF: Steven Salopek, Warren Tredrea, Daniel Motlop
F: Brett Ebert, Justin Westhoff, Brendon Lade
R: Dean Brogan, Chad Cornes, Shaun Burgoyne
I: Travis Boak, Nathan Lonie, Robbie Gray, Tom Logan
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