Midfielder Shaun Burgoyne (ankle) cruised though Friday’s short training session, confirming the Power is likely to remain unchanged for Saturday night's clash with the Brisbane Lions at AAMI Stadium.
Two of Port Adelaide's three losses to start 2008 have been by less than 10 points and Williams is confident his side can win this weekend.
“We certainly look at the positives from those games against Adelaide and Geelong and there’s no doubt that you have to start winning at some stage, but at the end of the year I think you’ll probably need 12 or 13 wins to get into the finals,” Williams said.
“Obviously we’re 12 or 13 wins away, but there are a lot of games to go and we’ll look forward to winning this week.
“We take probably a more long-term view on our players and understand the inconsistencies of young players or players that have had no pre-season.
“We take that all into account knowing that if we stick with them and give them enough time, they’ll come good. I hope it all clicks this weekend.”
Ironically, when Port Adelaide lost its first three games of season 2000 it snapped the losing streak with a 43-point victory over the Lions.
The two sides have produced some amazing results in recent years, including two draws and last year's thriller at the Gabba.
Williams said plenty of similarities could be drawn between the two clubs, which met in the 2004 grand final and have been dominant forces in the AFL this decade.
“There are a lot of levels of rivalry. We’ve played a lot of games against the Lions and we’re pretty similar in wins and losses,” he said.
“The fact is they’ve won three premierships and we’ve won one. We finished on top for three years and they never finished on top, but I think history books will show they’ve been a lot better than us.”
Williams was not perturbed by the suggestion of an emotional ‘let down’ following last week’s tense Showdown with Adelaide.
The premiership coach also denied his team, at times, attacked the man and not the ball against the Crows.
“Most of us have been through it [post-Showdown week] a long time now,” he said.
“I think the players took a lot of good things out of the game even though we didn’t win. We turned around our attitude and our appearance and our physical presence was terrific.
“And I’d certainly like to congratulate whoever has been looking at the tapes [of last weekend’s game] and is thinking, 'Yeah, that’s the kind of footy that should be encouraged.'
“I’m sure that game will have a great impact the next time we play the Crows and a fantastic impact on the game in general because people were thinking, 'Wow, wasn’t that an exciting game?'
“The boys put their bodies on the line. We didn’t get the result and I’m sure the Crows will be proud of how they played and how they stood up to it.
“I think most of the guys [who got injured] are playing this week, so no one really got hurt.”
