IT HAS been said a week is a long time in football and while Port Adelaide’s players will have less than a week between games, Thursday night’s contest against reigning premier Melbourne cannot come soon enough.
Following a heartbreaking after-the-siren loss to crosstown rival Adelaide last Friday, Port Adelaide is now winless in 2022 with a massive game to come against the unbeaten Demons.
Ruckman Scott Lycett – a man mountain in Showdown LI with 29 hit-outs, 20 disposals, four clearances and two tackles – perhaps will face the toughest task of all against the premiership tandem of Max Gawn and Luke Jackson and cannot wait.
“There’s probably no better one-two punch than what’s coming up this week,” Lycett told media at a press conference on Monday. “It’s a big challenge and something I’ve started preparing for.
“There are probably three or four guys who are up there in terms of ruckmen in the league and (Gawn) is obviously right at the pointy end of that and I love challenging myself against the best.
“We’ve had some good battles in the past and hopefully I can get over him this week.”
Port Adelaide’s players and coaches spent Monday afternoon reviewing Friday’s Showdown loss, highlighting key moments where the execution was not up to expectation.
“We just had some key moments in the game that we let ourselves down,” Lycett explained.
“Simple things that need to be done well aren’t getting done so well at the moment.
“In footy – it’s a simple game and the little things are big things in the scheme of things so it’s something we need to focus on.
“We’re aware of it and will be looking to make it better this week.”
After consecutive losses to Brisbane, Hawthorn and now Adelaide, Port Adelaide finds itself as one of three winless teams in the AFL after three rounds alongside West Coast and Essendon.
Having come through the junior ranks at the club, Lycett is very aware of the expectation of success at Port Adelaide.
He said the frustration of supporters was felt deeply within the club but players, staff and coaches were unified and working together to get back to winning ways.
“We know we let our supporters and members down and ourselves,” he explained. “We’re a lot better than that and we’ll be looking to rectify it this week.
“It was not the result we wanted and everyone’s still pretty disappointed but it’s a short turnaround for us, a six-day break, and there’s no better challenge in footy than going up against the reigning premiers.
“We’re up for the challenge. We know we were disappointing last week and we’re looking to bounce back.
“We’re still confident our best is good enough to match it with them but we know it’s not going to be easy and we’re going to have to play a lot better than we did last week.”
Thursday night’s game is shaping to be finals like, with plenty on the line for the side from Alberton.
Lycett is expecting the heat to be on from both sides, and preparing to get his knees dirty in the contest.
“I think you should go into every game wanting to win and have the same mindset,” he said.
“We understand where we’re at. We haven’t won a game for the season so it’s a massive game for us and with a short break, we can’t wait to get out there.
“We know it’s going to be contested and we’re going to leave it all out there.”
Port Adelaide will take on Melbourne at Adelaide Oval from 7:10pm on Thursday night.
