Port Adelaide assistant coach Luke Webster said the coaching and playing groups continue to seek improvement, and are motivated to get the best out of the rest of the season. 

Despite the weekend’s loss to Fremantle, there is deep belief in the system being built at Alberton, with opportunities given to young players amongst a tricky year of injuries. 

Speaking on Tuesday at the club, Webster touched on the team’s want to win, individual player development, and two big ins for this weekend’s Brisbane clash. 

Webster on the game review 
“I think that's what we've done really well this year is whether we win, lose, or how we perform, we've always tried to review it the same way, and we did the same thing today. We took the players through the phases of the game, gave them a chance to understand what the numbers are telling them, show them some vision of some of the areas that, when we get it right, what it looks like, and then some of the things we’ve got to continue to keep learning from. 

“We had a fair look at everything. Yes, you have a look at the first half, and we did some really good things in the first half. And then second half, you look at okay, what broke down? What didn't we quite get right? What didn't we handle? We thought that Freo are obviously a quality team, and what they did really well in that third quarter is probably tested our pressure and retained the ball and got their way forward, broke some tackles of ours, and that's something we've got to keep getting better at.” 

Webster on the group’s motivation to win 
“You don’t want honourable losses. And again, we’ve got to continue to keep driving our group to be motivated week in, week out to play the brand of footy that we want to play. Obviously, there's talk around underdogs, obviously it was first versus 15th, so naturally, it's going to be like that with the way you sit on the ladder. But we've got to keep setting up the week and keep setting up each game to keep our players understanding the foundations of our game and what looks good when we play our best footy and keep trying to bring that motivation out in those types of players, so we can keep playing that way for longer.” 

Webster on the belief in the system 
“There certainly is (belief). I think we've seen that from our group that they keep believing in the stuff that we've worked on throughout this whole year, right back from the pre-season with the foundations we started with around our team defence. Adding in your offence and your contest and how that all flows between each other. The more our players understand the roles they’ve got to execute in each phase in that moment of the game, which again we went through in that review, the times that we didn't quite execute the elements of the game when it was not on our terms. We’ve got to keep getting better at that, and our group should take full confidence week in, week out of when we put our best footy together, we can hold up against some of the best teams in the comp.” 

Webster on Harrison Ramm   
“Yeah, he'd be a chance to come back in. Obviously, it was a late out with that illness, so we’ve got to look at our group and have a look at what it looks like going forward. But he's a kid that we want to have in our team, and we can think he can add some real value to our backline.” 

Webster on Georgiades, Horne-Francis’ returns 
“They’ll be very handy (inclusions this weekend). I think the other pleasing thing on the weekend is that some of the guys that came in, like Balyn O'Brien, got his first opportunity, showed some nice signs, which was really good. But to get some senior players back certainly helps your group. We’ve just got to see how George progresses throughout the rest of this week, he’s got to get through main training and the last bit of his (concussion) protocols, but good to get those two guys back in and hopefully a couple others, we'll see how we go.” 

Webster on young players getting opportunities this year 
“Guys got opportunities in the game on the weekend. As I said, Balyn came in and did a really good job playing in the backline. He's only going to grow in confidence from that performance. Joshy Lai, a lot of people talked about his game against Hawthorn and how he started on the Wizard, and to where he has come from, from that game to how he's performing now has been really pleasing. I think that's been the opportunity for our group. As much as you don't want injuries to your key players, it does give you an opportunity to look at your list and we've been able to do that this year, and we can make some really good, strong decisions moving forward.” 

Webster on Mitch Zadow 
“I think what we see from Zads is intensity. He got good reward on the weekend for hitting the scoreboard, and he's probably increased that in the last couple of weeks. But the intensity that he plays at, his willingness to want to crack into the contest, whether that's his aerial battles, in and around his pressure, is something we really enjoy about his footy. And he got some good rewards on the weekend on the back of that.” 

Webster on Brandon Zerk-Thatcher 
“It's been a challenging year for him, definitely. It took a long time for him to get his opportunity, but what we've seen from Thatch is when he has come in – probably in the second half dropped off a little bit – but I thought he was pretty solid for the majority of the game on the weekend. He’s been playing against some of probably the best key forwards in the comp. He's really done a great job at staying really level and finding his way into the team and sticking to what he does. We know he's a great one-on-one defender and he can get battles done, and we saw that on the weekend. And again, he's got to continue to keep improving his game to give himself the best chance to keep performing well. But it has been a grind for him with having to spend a fair bit of time back in the Maggies. But he's stuck strong, and he's got his opportunities now. We've got to keep giving those opportunities to keep performing and keep improving.” 

Webster on Todd Marshall’s head gash 
“It's a nice little scar on his forehead, but yeah, he's pulled up well. Obviously, was out there training with the boys today, and he’ll be good to go.” 

Webster on Miles Bergman’s position 
“Well, that's the value of Miles. He can play in different roles, plus Hornet (Horne-Francis) can play in different roles. We’ve got to sit down as a match committee and work out what's the best mix. We thought on the weekend, given those guys that were out (Butters and Horne-Francis), was to put Miles on-ball. But if you think back to two weeks ago, he was probably our best defender and intercept marker. So selfishly, again, I'd love him to be in the back half, but it's going to be about what's the best mix for our group going up against Brisbane, and he can help us in multiple roles now. He's got some good confidence behind what he's been able to do as a defender, and should take some good confidence out of being a midfielder on the weekend.” 

Webster on Logan Evans’ development this year 
“I think he has gone under the radar. He's done a great job. If you think back to the game that we played against Geelong, he pretty much spent most of the time on Danger that night. I think he kept him to four touches for the night, so he's been able to play on some deeper forwards, but he's also been able to play on some of those smaller forwards that play up higher in and around stoppage and still have some real values. He’s added some real strength to his game. We can see the one-on-one battles that he can win against all types, but what he also does is when he wins his battle and get the ball to ground, he's been able to get some good offence off the back of that. He's really developed, and I've been really pleased with the way he's been performing this year.” 

Webster on Aliir Aliir’s season 
“I think he does, definitely (deserve All-Australian recognition). He performs week in, week out, and what he has done, with some of the key defenders out, obviously not having Sav (Esava Ratugolea) as much as we would have liked this year, we've given him the number one key forward each week, and as much as some of those guys have kicked some goals on him, he's still having great impact in the air from our point of view. And he might give up one or two goals, but he's keeping some of those key forwards that normally kick four or five down to ones and twos, and that's been the pleasing thing of his game. But he's also been able to have great impact early for us. So, 100% I think he should be considered for All-Austalian.”