Port Adelaide assistant coach Sam Virgo praised the high quality football produced by both sides on Sunday, with the Power beating Richmond in front of a packed house at Alberton Oval. 

It was the highest scoring game in the first weekend of finals, and the vocal Port Faithful got right behind every goal, bump and tackle. 

Virgo spoke to the Adelaide media on Monday about the fantastic football display, the excitement of the win, and the group’s focus now shifting to Hawthorn this Saturday. 

Virgo on the feeling following a first finals win 
“Proud is the overwhelming feeling, I think. Really, really impressed with the girls and their ability to deliver for most of the game our game plan on in a final. The players should believe in what they can do in a pressured situation. I think we've always believed in their ability, and our job is to make them believe in their ability. So yeah, again, really proud of what they were able to do, and hopefully they can carry that belief into next week.” 

Virgo on Lauren Arnell’s reaction after the game 
“Yeah, pretty proud, I think, is how Loz was feeling and all of us really. It's been a bigger picture focus for us. We want sustained success. But in that moment, it was pretty amazing just to be out there with the players and seeing how much belief they had, but enjoyment they had for what, what it can feel like when you put together four quarters of your best footing.” 

Virgo on the quality of Sunday’s game 
“It was a pretty good game. We're really proud of the players to be able to put on a quality game like that, and Richmond as well. I thought both teams brought their best footy, and it was a spectacle to watch. It was high quality under high pressure. So again, our game plan and the way that we want to play footy has always been our intention to make an attractive product for people. They want to come and watch, they want to turn on the TV, and that's our responsibility as a club and as a team to put on that product. So yeah, good on the players for doing that.” 

Virgo on the crowd at Alberton on Sunday 
“It was pretty enormous. Yeah, it's a pretty special place to play here. Even last week (against GWS), the players and the coaches, we really felt the crowd behind us. They turned out in numbers, over 5000, and gosh, it was heaving. It was a really, really cool place to play. And yeah, hopefully we can get as many supporters over to Ikon Park this Saturday night to recreate as close as we can get to the Portress we had yesterday.” 

Virgo on what was said to the group during Richmond’s fight-back 
“Richmond we rate really highly as a footy club and as a team, I think obviously they got the better of us in Round 5, and we thought they were going to be a finals team, and we had to absolutely play our best footy for four quarters and to compete with them. What did we say to them? We were trying to have our messaging pretty consistent to the players actually. Trying to remind them that it's just about taking your moment and just about playing your role in the moment when it presents itself. And overall, I think the players did that for four quarters, which is, yeah, we're really proud of them.”  

Virgo on the improvement since last season 
“We really challenged the players in the off-season last year to get after their fitness, and Gaz (high performance coach Anthony Gallomarino) and the high performance team got to work in the off season as well to get after our fitness, and that has really enabled us to play more of our game style for longer. But yeah, credit to the players and the work that they've put in to realise those gains.” 

Virgo on the balance of enjoying the win, while looking ahead 
“I think we need to enjoy the moment and really reflect on how well the players did yesterday in a high-pressure game against a really quality opposition. That sets them up really well for the next game and the next opportunity, but right now we're just really proud of them and it is really only next week that we're focusing on.” 

Virgo on how far Port Adelaide can go 
“To be honest, we're looking at the Hawks. We've been really clear with the players every week that we're not looking too far ahead. We have to look at each game and the growth that we can get out of each game. And today we'll review as coaching group and present to the players tomorrow around what can we do better? What are the things we really felt like we got right against Richmond, and how do we apply that against the Hawks? And we're not looking any further ahead than that.” 

Virgo on the players that returned from injury on Sunday 
“I believe they pulled up pretty well. I thought they played pretty well as well. So I haven't seen the medical report, but I'm pretty sure there were no issues after the game. Teakle was pretty good yesterday, I thought she straightened us up and took a contested mark, kicked a nice goal. So yeah, as I said, I believe everyone's put up pretty well.” 

Virgo on the opportunities for improvement 
“We challenge to the players to get better every week, and I think that that mindset for the players and our group overall has really helped them to narrow their focus on what their role is and the challenge right in front of us.” 

Virgo on what to expect from Hawthorn 
“Geez, they're playing some good footy. They played really well against Brisbane yesterday and didn't quite get it, and we can expect them to attack their offence. I think they've shown that they've been a really, really consistent, high-performing team all year, and we're really looking forward to the challenge. I think it would be offence against offence. We respect them highly and cannot wait for the challenge.”