PORT ADELAIDE senior coach Ken Hinkley was proud of the way his side was able to overrun Sydney in the second half to move inside the top eight, with games still to be played in Round 21.
Hinkley says his side has never given up the fight to return to September action - after missing the 2018 finals series - and anything but a win against the Swans would be unacceptable.
“We set out at the start of the year to play finals, and now we are still in the fight,” Hinkley said at his post-match press conference.
“It’s a real fight isn’t it? And who knows what’s going to happen. At the end of the round we may or may not be in the eight.
“It’s out of our control (this round) and what we could control, we did today.”
Despite only winning two of its last five games, Hinkley says his side has never given up belief, and they knew they would be in for a strong contest against John Longmire’s men.
“We have been pretty solid over the last little period of time,” he said.
“Today was really pleasing, especially after half time, to put the game away because we respect the might of the Swans, and what they’ve been for a long period of time.
“We knew they were going to make it a tough day, and for us to get that break on them was important.
“We kicked the first three straight after half time which gave us some breathing space and made us feel a bit safer.”
Ollie Wines was a late replacement for young gun Zak Butters - who didn’t recover from a sternum injury - and the senior coach was really proud of the way both conducted themselves.
“Zak Butters wasn’t right this morning and he made that decision,” Hinkley said.
“He’s a good young person who didn’t put himself in front of the team, and it allowed Ollie to come in and play.
“I thought it was a great performance by Ollie who came in and played his role really well. He is only part of the team which if it plays well then it will stay like that.”
Newly resigned key forward Todd Marshall played arguably his best game for the club, on the back of his immense forward pressure.
Marshall kicked two goals from 11 possessions, but most importantly laid eight tackles, which really impressed his coach.
“I’m a big Todd Marshall fan. I think he’s a very talented player,” Hinkley said.
“He’s learning to play a more contested-style game. He took a contested mark too late in the game, which is really important.
“He made tackles and got results from those tackles. His footy brain is really important in the front half - we know that.”
While the Power have kicked consecutive 100+ plus scores in the past fortnight, Hinkley understands if his side can’t continue that in the weeks to come, then it will all be in vein this season.
“We haven’t been satisfied. We haven’t ever accepted it’s been good enough,” Hinkley on the right setup of his side.
“We’ve made change, and we’ve been challenged on change but we have been prepared to keep making those changes.
“To the boys’ credit, the mix in the last couple of weeks - 126 points and just over 100 today in really tough conditions, it says a bit for the method at the moment.
“We know if we don’t continue that for the next two plus weeks it won’t matter.”
