PORT ADELAIDE’s coaches “saw what they wanted to see” in Friday night’s pre-season match simulation against the Crows.

Port emerged victorious by 22 points after the contest, played out over six periods.

Ten players who started the hit-out were rested after the third term with a number of others taken out after the fourth, as the Power used 36 AFL-listed and numerous SANFL listed players across the evening.

After the hit-out, forwards coach Chad Cornes was happy with the pressure his side applied once the ball hit the ground – a key focus going in – and said both sides would likely walk away happy.

He also discussed Miles Bergman playing on the wing and a young mid starring, then gave his thoughts on playing Showdowns in the pre-season.

Chad Cornes on his initial thoughts about the hit-out:

“I thought all in all, it was a good contest from both sides. They got the jump on us early, got on top at stoppage. We sort of rectified that after the first period and I thought we showed some really good signs. We got the ball forward, locked in in the forward half. I thought the pressure once the ball hit the ground from us across the whole ground was really strong and that was a huge focus going in. But I thought the plans we had going in we did pretty well for those first three full periods.”

Chad Cornes on the ruck battle between Ivan Soldo, Dante Visentini and Jordon Sweet:

“Dante's come on in the fourth period and had a big impact early so it's been a pretty close battle between the three of them across the whole pre-season. Ivan’s probably just got the, you know he got the start today. He did some good stuff but I thought Sweet was solid as well against a really good opponent in (Reilly) O’Brien. They're competing really well at training against each other and it would have been good for them to play against a high quality opponent.”

Chad Cornes on playing his thoughts around playing pre-season Showdowns:

“I don't really care who it is we play, it's just good to play an opposition. It feels like we've been playing against yourself for so long. I know the boys were really keen to play an opposition. It doesn't really matter who that is at this stage.”

Chad Cornes on Miles Bergman playing on the wing against the Crows:

“We’ve got such a good selection of high backs and wing is a position we're still trying to lock in who that is and Miles is a player that can play multiple positions and do it really well. We saw last year that he can do real damage on the wing as well as down back. He's up for the move so we're just still experimenting with what the actual lineup looks like but I think he's one who could fill that wing spot for us because of how versatile he is and the weapons he has.”

Chad Cornes on Jackson Mead’s strong performance in the midfield:

“(It was) great for him because he’s had a really solid pre-season. He got some more time inside in the centre bounce today which we know is his real strength. He often gets pushed out because of the others we have in there but he got a bit of exposure in there and did some great stuff so everyone would be really happy for Meady because he puts the work in and he's a really good person so it's great to see guys that get a bit of a reward.”

Chad Cornes on the bump by Sam Powell-Pepper that saw Crow Mark Keane leave the field:

“I didn't see it in enough detail to comment on it. I was sitting on the bench tonight with Kenny so I saw the passage of play but didn't see the impact. I obviously hate seeing those kinds of collisions and how he was afterwards, but I can't comment on what Pep did or didn't do.

“We've been really big on coaching that all summer. We've got a huge focus on how we attack the ball and the body to try and limit some of the free kicks we gave away last year and that falls into that category, so we know the way Pep plays - he's hard and tough but like I said I can't comment on the actual contact.” 

Chad Cornes on how the side will reflect on the hit-out before next week’s official 2024 AAMI Community Series match against Fremantle:

“We saw what we wanted to see. I thought there was no clear winner or loser. I think both teams would be pretty happy with what they saw but we still got a lot that we can work on going forward into Freo next week. We’ll go our strongest side, yeah, that will be the plan at this stage. We may play 25 or 26 but everyone that's available, we will play our strongest team.”