Port Adelaide assistant coach Chad Cornes said the group is confident it can turn things around following its Qualifying Final loss to Geelong on Thursday night. 

Describing the loss as an ‘aberration’, Cornes said he expects a strong response this Friday night, when the club takes on Hawthorn.  

Fresh from a team review on Saturday, Cornes spoke to the Adelaide media about the open and honest assessment of the game, how they can bounce back, and Zak Butters’ injury status. 

Cornes on the assessment of Thursday’s game 
“Disappointing performance obviously. Didn't see coming, but yeah, we just reviewed some vision then as a team, and it didn't look like us and what we've shown over the last two months. Obviously, Geelong were very good, outworked us. Some of the GPS numbers that we put up are nowhere near what we've shown recently. So I'm not sure why that happens, but it was a performance you can be really disappointed with, but one that we're really positive we can turn it around, because we've done that all year, and it wasn't us. So it might sound like a bit of an excuse, but that's not what we've shown consistently this year.” 

“So obviously, the three finals (we’ve played in the last two seasons), they'll get talked about and those performances haven't been good enough. There's some things that have really broken down for us in those games. And it's in all phases. It's around stoppage, the way we defend in the way we use the footy. All of them were way off. But obviously the outside noise is there, because that's what we've delivered. We just have to prove those people wrong, and I'm positive we can this week.” 

Cornes on Thursday’s effort 
“Well, it didn't look like (the effort was there). Like you never go out not to try, but watching some of the vision behind the goals, they definitely outworked us. And again, something we're known for. And what I love about this group is our effort, how hard we work, how hard we run, our pressure on the footy and the opposition. And that wasn't at the level required the other night.” 

Cornes on the mental aspect of the game 
“There must be a little bit in it. We had a brief chat about that before, you know, Kenny asked that question, is the moment too big for you? None of the players said it was. The feeling going in, the way we prepared, the atmosphere was brilliant. It was just a performance that none of us saw coming. It's hard to put it down to one thing, but those types of questions will get answered, and what we can do is try and prove them wrong.” 

Cornes on bouncing back 
“I think you've got to address it, because it has now been three finals in a row. But for me, it's an aberration, and I really do expect a response this week, and we've shown all year that we do respond from losses like that, but we need to address that things went wrong, because you're not going to win finals playing the way we did the other night.” 

Cornes on his 2004 premiership experience 
“If you look back that far, you just got to you know you trusted the season, you trusted the work you've put in. There were still doubts going into that first final against Geelong all those years ago, and then Choppy kicks that first goal, and that was like with the weight gets lifted off your shoulders. So starting well in a final would be nice, you know, we had some opportunities early in the game. We hit the lead, started to play the right way, and then they got a couple of easier goals than we'd like to give up. And it did feel like we sort of all went into our shells a bit. A real focus for the group was connection and communication on ground in games like that. And that was an area that really dropped off, which is disappointing, given it was such a big focus for us going in.” 

Cornes on the preparation for next week 
“We really changed up the lead-in going into this one, like previously, we'd given the boys more time off. We were here a lot more. We trained, not more, but we prepared better than I thought we had over the last couple of final series. We weren't meant to be until tomorrow or Monday, but that loss changed a few things. Felt like we really needed to address this game and then quickly move on. So Kenny's meeting before was being really honest and open with each other, watching some vision, talking through that, but then ending with real positives and the belief that we are better, a lot better than what we showed and we will turn it around.” 

Cornes on how the players dealt with the review 
“The boys are a lot better in this day and age by being open enough to say, yeah, I've got to be better here, compared to when I was playing. You’d sort of hide in the back corner and hope Chocco didn't ask you a question. But that was a very honest and open group (today), a group that admitted they needed to be better, and I thought the leaders led that really well.” 

Cornes on selection 
“Yeah, it's hard to look at just yet, because I'm not sure how many players could put their hand up and say they played well, maybe two or three. So I know a few individuals will be spoken about, but pretty unfair to put it on too many, because as a collective, I thought were pretty ordinary, and there's not too many guys like I said, could put their hand up and be proud of what they showed.” 

Cornes on Charlie Dixon 
“Charlie, I've heard a little bit of talk about him. He was the first one to come up to me after the game and, not apologise, but you know, in language that you can't say here, the thing I love about him is he knows when he hasn't played to his level, he's really honest and open with that. I back what he's done over the last month. I thought his form leading into this was solid, and he was playing a really good role for us. So like I said, I love the honesty with Charlie, and I know how he’ll want to turn that around.  

“His body is really good, and he's one like you said, that does like the continuity, so maybe missing the two weeks isn’t ideal for him, not an excuse, it's just the reality. He wasn't right to go in the Freo game (due to illness). But hopefully he'll be better after one week. And I know he will, I know he'll try harder than anyone else out on the field Friday night. 

Cornes on being underdogs against Hawthorn next week 
“It’s probably rightly so. Hawthorn are in good form, and have been for quite a while, playing with your confidence and belief. But I just want everyone to know that we will turn that around and we have the same amount of belief and confidence as Hawthorn do.  

“We haven't really gotten into (discussing) Hawthorn too much as yet. We'll have an opposition meeting this afternoon as coaches, then we'll start filtering that out to players early next week. Right now, it's just reviewing that game, dealing with that game, being honest with that performance, and from this afternoon, we'll start to move on. But they're a really well-balanced team all over the field, so it won't be one area in particular.” 

Cornes on Zak Butters’ injury 
“Yeah, all scans are clear. No external, internal damage. Obviously he’s sore. He’s a tough guy, so for Buttsy not to play on in a final, there's some soreness there, but nothing came up on the scan, which is a real positive for us. But he'll be a test next week.” 

Cornes on conceding a large score on Thursday 
“There was some structure stuff around stoppage. Maybe as coaches, we could have reacted in game a bit better than we did to put the boys in better starting positions, because, you know, Geelong do throw a lot of tricks at you. But then there was some real work rate and effort stuff, post-clearance that wasn't at the level that we'd seen from us for the majority of the year. So the boys saw that then, like I said before they were honest with it, and I'm sure we'll get better effort this week.” 

Cornes on Todd Marshall 
“Todd's good, yeah, he trained really well last week. He understood the reasons why he wasn't picked, but he'll be in the conversation next week for sure.”