PORT ADELAIDE assistant coach Brett Montgomery has leapt to the defence of rising star Xavier Duursma for his goal celebration during Saturday’s loss to Richmond.
Duursma took an impressive mark and converted the set shot partway through the third quarter before launching into his trademark bow and arrow celebration.
Montgomery knows the selfless nature of Duursma, and says the 19-year-old brings something special to the club.
“What I know is he is an outstanding young man,” Montgomery said at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
“I love what he brings. We are really, really lucky that we were able to bring him to the club.
“The life he has been able to breathe into this playing group, into the coaches and the way he goes about it.
“I think sometimes when there is a celebration involved, we think they are only thinking of themselves.
“You only need to watch him play and the way he supports his teammates, the courage in which he gets in the back half and throws his light frame in the way of the key forwards to know that’s not him.”
The assistant coach wasn’t the only person involved at Alberton to come out and support Duursma, with former skipper Travis Boak tweeting this last night.
Just keep being you Xav. I Love the way you play and the way you go about it.
— Travis Boak (@travisboak10) July 21, 2019
Montgomery says while it was disappointing to lose to the Tigers on the road, he believes his side played the right game-style, but let itself down with turnovers.
“The wash-up out of it was we brought the right type of game,” he said.
“We didn’t execute exactly how we wanted to. Richmond - even by their own admissions - found themselves in a handball game that they didn’t necessarily want to play.
“We brought some heat and some method that was really effective to show the way you could interrupt and prevent them from playing their type of game.
“In the end, the sheer weight of numbers coming back on turnover - we really shot ourselves in the foot for most of the day.”
The defensive coach says his side is up for the fight for the rest of the season, and says it will attack the last five weeks.
“We just need to play well. We need to bring our game,” Montgomery said.
“Clearly a couple of times it hasn’t been there, but we just need to bring the energy. We’ve got to bring the game that we know everyone struggles with.
“It’s more about how we attack the next few weeks, rather than taking too much of a focus from what’s happening around us.”