And SANFL senior coach Garry Hocking wants the League side to redeem itself against Sturt in a battle for top spot this weekend.
If the Double Blues win by enough, they will be able to leapfrog the Magpies at the top of the state league competition.
The Magpie Academy rallied late in last week’s game to overtake the Bloods reserves at the death.
It’s something Hocking, as head of the club’s senior Magpies, wanted to see in his own team.
“Congratulations must be given to the Academy team and Jacob Surjan, who had a great win against the Westies,” Hocking told portadelaidefc.com.au.
“The boys hung in there and played consistently across four quarters - something the League team did not achieve on the weekend.”
While the Magpies League side got off to a strong start with the breeze, West Adelaide seized the momentum and ran out 17-point winners after being tied with Port at the final change.
“Our boys got off to a good start kicking 5.1 to 1.5 with the breeze but then West decided to work harder and use the ball better than our boys over the next 3 quarters,” Hocking Said.
“We really defended poorly by allowing West to kick another 14 goals and run out winners.”
Despite the disappointment felt by both Hocking and the Magpies League players, he’s confident the team can bounce back against the Double Blues this weekend.
“We were really disappointed with our performance and we will learn plenty from the loss,” Hocking said.
“We need to learn as quickly as we can though, because we have to bounce back against the Double Blues who are in great form in a top of the table clash at Envestra Park on Saturday.”
“I hope we’ll see plenty of black and white at Unley on Saturday to help us get back into form.”
Port Adelaide plays the Double Blues at 2:10pm on Saturday, following the Academy clash with the Sturt reserves at 11:25am.
