PORT ADELAIDE SANFL coach Matthew Lokan has labelled his side’s 126-point loss to North Adelaide as ‘embarrassing’.
The Magpies were held to just 1.4 as the league leaders ran riot at Prospect Oval on Saturday, and Lokan was disappointed in all aspects of the game.
“We're not going to make excuses, that was embarrassing,” he said.
“Our ability to be able to execute under any pressure today was really poor and we didn't defend.
“It was almost like a training drill for North today and just look at the statistics, they dominated every area of the ground and killed us on the scoreboard.
“I said to the players I feel like my job is to be able to ensure that they learn and grow from games like this.
“We understand it's not acceptable, and we certainly don't accept it.
“I don't think they're developing as young men and young players, if they don't learn from it.
“We had some real fundamental things that we just didn't get right today.”
The Magpies had an inexperienced line-up, with only Sam Mayes, Dylan Williams, Hugh Jackson, Ollie Lord, Jed McEntee and Marty Frederick from the AFL list.
“We had a really young contracted group. I don't know the actual stats, but I would say there would have been at least a dozen guys that have played under 15 league games, and that's really tough to be able to compete for four quarters against a really good side,” Lokan said.
“We obviously had a few guys miss through Covid and injuries and three ended up going to Perth extra and Marty (Frederick) played half a game.”
There were new roles for Williams and Lord who played in the backline, with Williams amassing 25 touches and eight rebound 50s and Lord with 15 and four rebounds 50s.
“I think that's the positive thing out of today, we get the opportunity to play Dylan and Ollie in the in the backline and continue their growth as footballers,” Lokan said.
“As a coach and with my role to be able to develop young men to be good SANFL players, but also good AFL players, we get the opportunity to be able to try guys in different positions.
“We did that with Ollie and Dylan today and they were under a fair bit of pressure down there and they got a lot of things that they can work on, but I thought they both competed really hard.”
The Magpies next take on Woodville-West Torrens on Saturday at 2.10pm.
