It may have taken until Round 21, but last night Port Adelaide put in their best performance for 2015.
It does not change the fact that it has been a disappointing season, but it provided a glimpse into the kind of football Port Adelaide is capable of playing and should be playing moving forward in 2016.
It has been discussed before that maybe this is the year Port Adelaide needed to have. Supporters do not like to hear this, especially when expectation was a top four finish, but sometimes you need to take a step back before taking a step forward.
While the whole club will look to learn from mistakes this year, so will coach Ken Hinkley.
Often the view from AFL pundits for a bottom-placed team is it can take between three to five years to build a competitive AFL outfit that can feature in finals.
At the end of 2012 Port Adelaide had won only five games. The rise of Port Adelaide has not been the traditional rebuild which most clubs prepare for. Port Adelaide jumped directly from the lowly depths of the ladder in 2012 to a semi- final appearance in 2013 and a preliminary final appearance in 2014.
It is very rare for such a rapid rise; especially given the age demographic of the Port Adelaide team which would suggest their best football is further down the line. Maybe we all got caught up and need to analyze a little more rationally.
Hinkley has been strong in his message all year and the direction he wants to take the club. Despite Port Adelaide being below par they have lost six games by fewer than two goals. It shows how tight the AFL competition is and can be a fine line between playing finals and missing out.
If you were listen to some of the media reaction at times you would believe that Port Adelaide has failed to win a game all year. They have still won 10 games and a chance to finish the year with 12 wins.
So where to for next year? Drafting and trading will play an important role and despite it potentially not being a popular opinion, if Port Adelaide can bring in Charlie Dixon for Jay Schulz this is a massive tick.
It will be strange not seeing Port Adelaide involved in the finals after the performance last night and what Port Adelaide did in September last year. The last couple of weeks Ken Hinkley has been magnificent in the media and if you get a chance then watch his interview on AFL 360 from Thursday night, make sure you do. Hinkley is a great teacher, has great knowledge of the game and the players play for him and respect him.
Port Adelaide has a very good coach, and most importantly the right man to steer Port Adelaide towards their next premiership.
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