Port Adelaide assistant coach Darren Reeves said the coaching and playing group underwent a productive and holistic review of Sunday’s two-point loss together, reflecting on all phases of the game.

With a focus on continually finding ways to improve, Reeves said the players are fully invested in what that looks like over the coming weeks.

Speaking with the Adelaide media on Tuesday, Reeves discussed the game review, touched on the focuses for this week, and gave an update on injured players.

Reeves on the team review
“It was pretty holistic. It was pretty calm and measured. Josh has been very good in that space all the way through the pre-season and the season so far. And we looked at a number of different things, a lot of it about defence and how, from an offensive standpoint, contest standpoint, we can help team defence. So we had a look at a few clips as a group and came back and talked about that so it was a good, strong review.”

Reeves on finding consistency
“There have certainly been inconsistencies from week to week, quarter to quarter, but we're still seeing some really good stuff as well. So we'll keep trying to iron out the moments when it's not so good, and the lapses that we have at different times and again, how we can connect all phases to make sure that we're helping how we want to defend the ground by using the ball a bit better, making a better decision with the ball, getting our contest right. So it's a real holistic approach on finding little ways to improve all the time.”

Reeves on player feedback in the review
“They're invested in it, and they understand. And the communication amongst the smaller groups and then into the larger group is strong. As a coaching group, and as a playing group, we take ownership of how we improvements.

“It's all about the whole group – coaching group, players – all taking ownership of how we get better. Our leaders, how do they get better? Our mid-tier players, how do they keep improving? Our younger guys continuing to improve each week. And that's from the individual review into the team reviews as well, it’s finding ways for all of us to get better.”

Reeves on the early results
“You can never tell in the competition (what may happen). Just because teams were lower on the table last year, doesn't mean that's going to be the case in ‘26 and I think we've seen already that some teams are improving. I think we all know in this competition, if you don't turn up and play your best footy for long periods of time, it doesn't matter who you're playing, they’re a chance to beat you. We've seen that in the first couple of rounds. We've been a little bit inconsistent and our challenge is to find a real base level that, when we're not playing our best footy, how do we not drop off too far? In two games so far, we haven't been able to do that, but we're certainly working towards that.”

Reeves on the players’ focus
“The players are just focused on how do we get better? That’s their mindset and as a coaching group as well, it’s how do we keep getting each player better and each line better, and how do we stay connected as a group in all of those areas and continue to improve our game?”

Reeves on Todd Marshall
“Todd won't play this week. He's still a little bit sore. I think we're hopeful that he will improve over this week and be able to train next week and hopefully playing the week after. It’s the second time he sort of tweaked that ankle. He did it against North Melbourne and then again at training last week. Sometimes with ankles, they just take a bit longer to heal. There's no major damage there. It's just a little bit sore. So we won't risk it this week.”

Reeves on Esava Ratugolea
“Unfortunately, Esava’s had scans, and he's got a bit of meniscus damage in his knee and needs to have a little clean out. So we’ll wait until that happens, to know how long it's going to be. But, yeah, unfortunate for Esava because he’s been playing good footy.

Reeves on tall defender options
“We haven't discussed that at this point today (whether Jack Lukosius will go back again). I'm not sure that that will happen, but we're probably open to that. Jack probably showed a little bit across our back, late in the game, and we were probably chasing the game a little bit at that point as well. So that was more an attacking move. But we've got some other options. Brandon Zerk-Thatcher is getting going, he has been training well and playing solidly in the SANFL, so he's another option there. But yeah, we'll work through that over the next couple of days.

“It's unfortunate, Todd going down and Esava going down and Harry (Ramm) not being available as well. That's the nature of it. We're not the only club that's got those issues at the moment, but we've got a list, and we've got a number of players that we can cover different roles.”

Reeves on Ollie Wines
“He certainly got through a game of footy on Saturday and was still moving pretty well late. He found plenty of the ball. He was probably a little rusty with ball in hand, and he’s certainly an option to come back in this weekend and we’ll work through training tomorrow and see where that lands.

“It was a bit like Jack (Lukosius) a couple of weeks ago. We just felt like Ollie needed a game of football. He played one trial game five weeks ago and in the end, it's about building Ollie up to make sure he’s successful throughout the year and not throwing him to the wolves too early. It was a big discussion last week whether he came straight in, but I think Ollie will be better for the run over the weekend for sure.”

Reeves on Miles Bergman
“Miles will play this week, I think. He’s pretty confident and moving really well. He trained well yesterday and should train fully tomorrow. We are pretty hopeful that he’ll play.”