Wingard, Ryder, Ebert and Westhoff give their thoughts on Friday night's huge win...
CHAD WINGARD
On keeping the momentum
"I think we played a pretty consistent four quarters and that’s what we’ve been striving for. You’ve seen throughout the whole season we’ve been lacking in a quarter or two, and it’s really hurt us. Defensively we were on our game and it really paid off."
On the Power's focus going in
"Our aim was to keep attacking and be composed, trying to hold the ball and keep it in our forward 50. In that second quarter our meters gained wasn’t too big, so we had a real emphasis on using the ball better and giving our forwards a chance."
PADDY RYDER
On what they did right
"I think that was our best performance all year. We stood up. Our pressure on them tonight really won us the game. Our composure, too – the boys are really good at hanging onto the ball. If you keep the ball from Hawthorn and deny them that ball use, it goes a long way to winning."
On his own efforts in the ruck
"At times it felt really good in there. When you’ve got blokes like Robbie and Hamish working under your feet, I just drop the ball in the area and they do the rest of the work - they make me look good!"
On Ken’s three-quarter time message
"Ken just wanted us to come out strong, really just finish off the game, keep that pressure and keep getting that ball inside 50 and keep them under the pump. I think the boys did it pretty well."
BRAD EBERT
On how they prepared for the Hawks
“Looking at the likes of those boys (Hawthorn), you know they’re going to be there for the contest. That was one thing we really tried to match - that strong inside aggression and the really strong contest, and we knew the rest would take care of itself."
“The second quarter we probably let them back into it, but Hawthorn is a good side and we know that’s going to happen. I thought to our credit we were able to bounce back in the third.”
On what worked
“Something we’ve tried to get back to these last few weeks is take those risks, take it on – I guess we’ve got nothing to lose. Tonight we were able to get on the outside and get some space. As a midfield group we really tried to go in there with that mentality – go head to head, work really hard really often and work hard defensively as well, and I think we were able to find that right balance.”
“The last few weeks we’ve really tried to go out there and earn that respect back, play an aggressive style of footy and I thought we were able to do that for the full four quarters again.”
JUSTIN WESTHOFF
On the game intensity
“[Lacking intensity] has been the most frustrating thing this year. When we play our best footy it goes a long way to winning the game. We’ve put a few yards in the last couple of weeks and we’re starting to reap the rewards of it a bit.”
On the midfield effort
“I thought the guys in the middle were really aggressive – we wanted that going into the game. They were just really clean around the stoppage. We’ve got some quality guys in there like Robbie Gray and Travis Boak who are our engine room going forward. They were up and about, and pretty much everyone else will be after that.”
On the Port Adelaide supporters
“To the supporters – it’s good to show you guys just what we can do! Hopefully we can continue that into next year and the next couple of games.”
