Port Adelaide assistant coach Hamish Hartlett said the Showdown win was reward for effort for the group. 

After a number of close losses this season, the Power enjoyed a stunning victory at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, defeating fifth-placed Adelaide in Showdown LX. 

Hartlett spoke with the Adelaide media on Tuesday about the belief of the group, Miles Bergman’s possible return and this Sunday’s North Melbourne clash. 

Hartlett on the Showdown win 
“I think it was just a nice reward for a lot of hard effort and hard work that we've put in throughout the season. Obviously, we've fallen short on a number of occasions this year, and so to put in a really strong performance against a high-quality team, and there's no bigger wins than Showdowns in the regular season. So it was a bit of justice and bit of reward for a lot of hard work.” 

Hartlett on what the win does for the group 
“I think it just instils belief that when we play the way we want to play with the right energy and intent, particularly around the footy, that our game plan stacks up. So, there's been little signs, I think, over the last couple of months without necessarily getting the wins on the board, but I thought that in all phases of our game, we were in really good shape on the weekend. 

“Carry (Josh Carr) may have mentioned a couple of times over the last week or so that every time we step foot on the park, that we've been trying to win and if that means spoiling a few parties on the way, on the way through to their finals campaign for other teams, so be it. We want to try and create a winning environment around the around the footy club, and that's what we continue to try and do.” 

Hartlett on Adelaide’s recent form against Port Adelaide 
“Yeah, there wasn't any conversation around their recent form against us, necessarily, and Carry knows all too well, and he's spoken about it regularly before Showdowns, that recent form is irrelevant, and we proved that on the weekend.” 

Hartlett on backing it up against North Melbourne 
“I think just reinforcement of the way we played, so that'll come this afternoon when the boys roll back in the footy club. What was the mental state of the players prior to the game? Can we capture that and take it back into the following week against North Melbourne? Get a visual understanding of what we've worked on and why, why it worked on the weekend, and looking to capture that again this week. 

“(Round 1 against North Melbourne) seems like a long time ago. We feel like we've developed and progressed as a team since then. That was the third or fourth game under Carry's tutelage and we were still quite raw in what we're trying to do, so we feel like we've gotten better. They've changed some things in what they've done in recent times as well. So they're two pretty completely different teams, I would say.” 

Hartlett on the post-Showdown feeling 
“I think there's always that added adrenaline and energy when you're going into the Showdown, for sure. And it's probably worth everyone having that conversation this week, putting it out there on the table rather than just kind of letting it fall by the wayside and potentially falling into that that frame of mind (of a comedown). I dare say it's something we'll address over the next couple of days to the playing group and ensuring that we go into this week's game against North Melbourne with the same intent, the same mindset. Like I said earlier, it all depends on how we start the game around the contest, which I thought on the weekend our pressure on the ball was elite.” 

Hartlett on Zak Butters’ influence on the weekend 
“It looked like they were trying to curtail his influence around the stoppage more so, which I think is the plan for a lot of teams this year. It seems that the hard tag around the ground, is becoming less and less of a thing. It looked like Peatling was trying to do some work on him around the stoppage at the start of the game, but I think teams these days are backing in their system more often than not. For us, for example, on the weekend, we thought Dawson was having a bit of an impact at the start of the third quarter, so we put Drewy to him for a small period of time, just to put him in ice a little bit. It was nice to see them give Zak the leeway that he had, I suppose, but then Jase (Horne-Francis) was the 2IC and going just as well so it’s hard to stop everyone.” 

Hartlett on the stoppage dominance in the Showdown 
“We definitely planned well, and a lot of the time, at training Monday to Friday, we train with one less player at stoppage, so the boys are in a more 50/50 defensive mindset. And I reckon on the weekend we went in with that mindset and attitude around the contest. The boys hung into the battle for a little bit longer and were able to get some good results off the back of it, and a lot of that also came on the back of Sweety’s dominance as well, in around the footy was outstanding, he had a great game for us. So, the boys know that when they're, when they're connected, when they're communicating really well around stoppage, we've got some real threats around there. And it's not just the two boys that we've spoken about, but we know that Ollie and Drewy and Joey Richards now as well can be damaging around the contest.” 

Hartlett on Zak Butters’ impact despite the outside noise about his future 
“It's more about like appreciating how competitive, how driven, how connected to the team that that he is, with all this stuff going on, all this noise around that he just loves celebrating his teammates' successes as well. And the incredible competitive nature that he plays a game with is something that’s actually just extraordinary to watch every week, so we just really appreciate that.” 

I guess the AFL feel the need to look after people more and more these days, which is fair enough. And so we adapt to those changes if they come. Is CTD something you'd have any concerns about as a former player or going toward for players? 

Hartlett on Miles Bergman 
“I believe he'll increase his training load again this week, and potentially put himself up for selection, which is exciting for us. We've had a number of our more experienced players on the sidelines for a period of time this year, and we're starting to get a couple back. Pep (Powell-Pepper) played his first game on the weekend, Miles potentially available this week too, so nice to have that experience back. 

“I anticipate that given the type of athlete that Miles is, he's super fit, super lean, very, very professional in what he does, that if he gets through this week of training unblemished, then I think there'd probably be a temptation to put him straight back in (to the AFL side).” 

Hartlett on Miles Bergman’s leadership while injured 
“The thing we love about Miles is he’s a selfless and caring teammate. Similar to Connor and Pep, all three of those guys this year all three of those guys this year have spent a lot of time and energy helping younger guys throughout the week. It hasn't all just been about them, and feeling sorry for themselves. Miles, in particular, has been incredibly diligent with his rehab, and we can see just with his physical makeup that he's a professional guy. So he's been super resilient, he's still fit and strong, and the beauty of what he's been able to do is help younger guys over the last six or seven weeks, while attacking his rehab as well.” 

Hartlett on Joe Berry’s growth 
“Joe clearly, with his running capacity and his ability to cover the ground, is a huge weapon for us. He's a very talented young guy, but again, he's another guy that's really driven about improving parts of his game that we've challenged him on. That part of the game for Joe's been around his contest and two or three times a week for the last six months, post training he's cracking into bodies and wanting to be a more physical player and I think we saw that on the weekend when there was a groundball through the middle of the ground that he picked up and might have been Dawson that came through and smashed him, and he got straight back up. We're just really happy with the way Joe's developing, particularly that side of his game.” 

Hartlett on Todd Marshall’s performance in the SANFL 
“It’s not a conversation that's been had so far with Toddy (about what level he will play this weekend), but we feel like for anyone that we bring back into the AFL team, we want them to be super confident and in really good form at SANFL level. So, what that looks like for Todd this week, next week, going forward, we’ll wait and see.” 

Hartlett on Sam Powell-Pepper’s return to football 
“Yeah, he was great. He said he ran around like a bit of a headless chook for the first quarter, I don't think he had a disposal in the first 30 minutes of the game, but just so happy to be out there. He finished the second quarter with five possessions under his belt, and was just ecstatic after the game to have gotten through well.”