IF Port Adelaide was to overcome third-placed West Adelaide – arguably the most improved side of the SANFL in 2015 – their players and coaches knew a superior defensive effort on those of the past fortnight was required.
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After just scrapping home against Glenelg and Central, the pressure was on the Magpies to play convincingly against the Bloods.
Fortunately for the club’s faithful, Port’s charge toward a top-two berth was boosted on Saturday afternoon as the Magpies held the Bloods to just 37 points - their lowest score for the season thus far - and won by 50.
"I was happy with the defensive part of the game," senior coach Garry Hocking said after the win.
"They (West Adelaide) are number one for high scores and we set a task today to get back to being pretty ruthless in defence.
"We lost the scoreboard in the first quarter, but defensively I thought we were still good and all the indicators were saying we should've won the quarter.
"You need a buy-in from everybody, there's no use having your forwards not defending, or your mids not defending, or your backs, you've got to have good team defence.
"Even at the end we were still hungry and it was what we were trying to get to."
Hocking praised the efforts of debutant Dougal Howard, second-gamer Billy Frampton and young gun Robbie Young and hopes their consistent efforts would continue.
"We have a young group, Dougal Howard, Billy Frampton, Robbie Young, they are all 19-20 and they haven't played at this level before," Hocking said.
"But it's a little bit of effort and you have to bring able to bring effort every week.
"Frampton is really composed, he looks like a bit of a wild thing out there and throws his body around, but once he gets the football he is quite capable of finding the next stage of play.
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"Kane Mitchell was also really good defensively, he had six inside-50s, five rebounds inside defensive 50, 11 marks and 30 possessions, so he has worked hard.
"This was a real crunch game for us and promotes us into third and we are still chasing number one spot.
“We have to continue to be ruthless and attack the next month."
Port Adelaide will play the Adelaide Crows at Alberton Oval on Saturday 28 June after next weekend’s bye.
