KEY forward Todd Marshall is much clearer on how to impose himself in AFL games, let alone on the scoreboard. So are his Port Adelaide team-mates.
The weekend - with Marshall kicking five goals and Port Adelaide finding its first win of the AFL home-and-away season - just might be the landmark moment for both the 23-year-old forward and his recharged club.
Marshall has - in the absence by injury of All-Australian power forward Charlie Dixon - this season stepped into the heavy shadows of the AFL's No. 1 defenders, often with those backmen carrying much more experience and weight.
"I've found some internal belief, but I want to do it consistently," says Marshall, Port Adelaide's leading goalkicker (11) so far this season when Dixon's absence, along with those of fellow All-Australian Robbie Gray and Orazio Fantasia have forced a reshaping of the attack.
"I have not had a good stretch of three or four games where I have put some goals or some marks on the board. For me, that is the main thing at the moment - to get more consistency in my game and to do it against the big body defenders had made for a good challenge."
Marshall's turnaround this season - with a career-high five goals against Adelaide in round three - followed an enormous vote in faith from coach Ken Hinkley leading into Showdown LI four weeks ago. Marshall had chalked up just four disposals in each of the opening two matches against Brisbane and Hawthorn - and only one goal.
There also was the sage advice of former captain Travis Boak, a strong support for Marshall during the past three years.
"There were some good conversations during that week (leading up to the derby) with Ken, and also with Travis Boak who has been really good for me in a mentor sense," Marshall said. "I was probably putting a bit too much pressure on myself to make sure every kick was perfect or I had to win every contest.
"The chats I had were to narrow my focus and bring it back to just competing as a tall forward - and stuff (like goalscoring) comes off that.
"I wasn't playing my best football. But there is confidence from them backing me - and, hopefully for the rest of the season, I can keep delivering."
Marshall's new footing as a key forward comes as Port Adelaide as a team has found new focus at Alberton.
If - as many pundits suggest - there was a scar left by last year's preliminary final loss to the Western Bulldogs, the Port Adelaide players have ripped the bandage right off. And opening the wounds of a club-worst 0-5 start to the AFL home-and-away series has done much good for a team still believing there is much to be achieved in the next 16 rounds of the qualifying season.
"We reviewed the Carlton game (that ended in a three-point loss) pretty heavy. It was probably the longest meeting I've been involved in at the club," said Marshall, who arrived at Alberton six years ago. "We went over all the finer details and know what we expect from each other as a playing group - and the standard we want to set.
"On the weekend, we delivered on that. We spoke this morning how that is the bare minimum now - and to keep that as our standard and keep going from there."
Port Adelaide broke a six-game losing streak - dating to the home preliminary final loss to the Western Bulldogs last year - with the 84-point win against West Coast also ending a five-game losing run against the West Australian club at Adelaide Oval.
"It has been a long time coming this year, but it is a lot better coming (to training) on a Monday after a win; it is a lot more positive around the club," Marshall said at Alberton on Tuesday.
"It was the way we played - and the way we did it for four quarters."
Recruited as the No. 16 call in the 2016 AFL national draft, Marshall has played 61 AFL matches since his national league debut against the Western Bulldogs in round 22, 2017. He has scored 67 goals - and drawn much attention (and heavy criticism) through his match statistics.
"I've been okay with that," Marshall said. "I am pretty grounded and I take it as it comes. I have been getting it for a little bit now, so I know how to handle it - what to listen to and what not to hear. We play a professional sport - and that (criticism) is going to come if you are not performing. My start to the year was not where (it should have been) ... I'd be the first to admit that.
"If you don't perform, you will be under scrutiny. It puts a bit of pressure and an edge on you to play well.
"To keep performing at the level means, as the club knows, I don't have to kick five goals every week. When I do that, it is a bonus. It is about my competitiveness and how I go about the ground - my defence, my tackling ... The past two or three weeks, I've been a lot better in that."
Hinkley has emphasised there are many qualities in a team player that do not make it onto the Champion Data statistical sheets.
"Ken gives me a lot of belief in what I do for the team," Marshall said. "I try to help defence as much as I can with our running patterns. People may not notice that. It doesn't come up on the stat sheets. But internally you are recognised for that.
"Ken gives me a lot of belief in my contest work.
"It is about getting to as many contests as you can; getting involved be it with a tackle, a smother, a spoil. It helps you feel involved and brings a bit of energy for yourself. If it is not going your way, there are plenty of other things you can do as a team-mate.
"It is a mindset thing. I play my best footy when I am bringing the ball to ground and hunting around the contest. Even tackling; when you are not getting a touch, that can make you feel involved in the game. I probably was not doing that the first couple of rounds - and that is disappointing.
"Since the Showdown, as a forward group our pressure (game) has been pretty good and, personally, it has been okay.
"The Showdown brought my focus back to competing in the air and getting more enjoyment out of football. I was probably putting a bit too much pressure on myself to make sure every kick was perfect, every handball was perfect ... and if it did not happen, I would get some self-doubt.
"After those chats with Ken and Travis, and the confidence from them, I feel I have been going okay."
Boak's theme to Marshall to stay well grounded is to remember who you are, particularly off the field - "a person, a human being.".
"That week of the Showdown I had really good chats over lunch a couple of times with Travis," Marshall recalled. "He tells me to narrow my focus - and (that I am) a human being playing football. I was putting a fair bit of pressure on myself. Travis reminded me I am still a person ..."
During the past month Marshall has twice rewritten his personal best with the five goals against Adelaide in Showdown LI and again at the weekend against West Coast, the latter coming as part of a ten-goal tandem alongside Jeremy Finlayson.
"My season has still be up and down with form and kicking goals," declared the 198cm key forward. "But I have been able to compete a lot better this year - and I have a lot more confidence in my body to be able to take the opposition's No. 1 defender.
"Without Charlie there, it has been different in our (forward) structure. But we are learning now - and when we play as we did on the weekend, it is easier for us to hit the scoreboard (with the three tall forwards contributing 11 of the team's 18 goals against West Coast).
"We are all pretty mobile. We are able to play all spots on the ground. On the weekend, Mitch played some high forward and was able to get his hands on the ball and kick it deep to me and Jeremy. We are still learning. We're all in that same age group - and hopefully we can gel and keep delivering."
Listed at 90 kilograms in a league where the powerful defenders can tip the scales at triple figures, Marshall has built much-needed confidence in his body the hard way.
"In the past two or three years I have noticed a lot of difference in my upper-body strength," Marshall said. "I've been able to compete against the bigger defenders. I've been playing on them for a while now, so I have learned what they want to do with you - and I have had to counter that and do what I do in the air.
"In previous years, I have been able to it for a quarter or so and then drift in and out of games a little bit. This year, my contests have been much more consistent. It may not show on the stat sheets, but just competing and bringing the ball to ground has been a lot more consistent."
The education has been tougher with Dixon's absence bringing proven defenders such as Melbourne premiership backman Steven May into Marshall's space.
"The learnings have been good," said Marshall who drew much attention from the game's analysts for not drawing any supply in the home clash with Melbourne in round 4. "(Against May) maybe I was over leading - and that was a great challenge. I have learned a lot since that game.
"It was Weitering when we played Carlton, Barrass on the weekend - and it is good to play on those No. 1 defenders; learn what they want to do and judge what I want to do off that."
The next assignment - St Kilda at Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns - should be against a defender Marshall came to know well at training, former Port Adelaide key backman Dougal Howard.
"It is a chance," Marshall said of the match-up with Howard who marked Dixon in the last Port Adelaide-St Kilda contest. "I played on him a bit at training when he was at the club, so it will be a good contest."
Marshall is sporting a nasty cut that bled heavily a second-term collision with West Coast midfielder Luke Shuey.
"It was after marking contest; I went to tackle Luke Shuey and stumbled and copped the point of his shoulder," Marshall recalled. "It's part of footy ... but people do look at you funny when you walk around the supermarket."
