PORT ADELAIDE assistant coach Jarrad Schofield says his side has learnt a lot from its loss to Brisbane on Saturday night, and won’t require wholesale changes to get back on the winners’ list.
Port was outmuscled and outplayed by the Lions in the 37-point defeat at the Gabba.
Despite the result, Schofield was able to find positives.
“The positive thing was our first quarter was pretty good from the point of view of the way we were playing, we just weren’t finishing out work,” Schofield said of the 1.6 his side managed from eight shots on goal.
“Just after quarter time we couldn’t go the next level with Brisbane but the positive thing is we are still playing some good football, but we learn a lot from it.
“We’ll review the game later in the week with the players but as coaches we know the areas where we could be better. We had a small chat to the players up in Queensland and they’re fully aware.”
While Port was well beaten in the contest, Schofield didn’t see any need to make wholesale changes to the midfield, or the side as a whole.
But, he said defender Ryan Burton was edging closer to a return after knee surgery having just fallen short last week.
“Burton will progress again,” Schofield said. “He was close last week and another week of training he’ll hopefully be much better.
“He’s still got a few more training sessions and a few more boxes to tick. He did everything we asked, it was probably how he pulled up that wasn’t where we wanted it to be.
“He trained really well and we walked away from the training sessions that we saw going back to the hotel thinking he was right to go but it was the recovery side of things that he probably wasn’t right.
“And at the same time, we’ve got to give credit to the player that he’s confident in his body and we’ve got to listen to him as well and he wasn’t 100% in that space.”
Port Adelaide has returned home to Adelaide after spending 16 days in the AFL’s Queensland hub on the Gold Coast.
While the experience was not as kind to some teams, Schofield said his side had embraced it, and was looking forward to getting back to Queensland to face GWS on Sunday.
“Home is always home,” he said when asked how it felt to be back.
“We’re glad to be back here but at the same time we have no complaints whatsoever. The hub experience was really good for our fellas.
“We didn’t get the result that we wanted against Brisbane but in terms of our growth as team and coaching staff, it was really beneficial for us.”
As for the GIANTS, Schofield said the coaching group was well aware of the many threats they pose, and was preparing to negate them.
“They’re very talented around the footy. They’ve got some super players up forward,” he said.
“They’ve turned their start to the season around and they’re playing a really good brand of football. They’re hard around the football, they’ve got some talented players, it’s well documented but the contest side of things we’ve got to make sure we match them in that area and limit their supply.
“And also going forward just making sure we use the ball well. They’ve got some really good intercept markers.”
Port Adelaide takes on GWS from 1:05pm AEST / 12:35pm ACST on Sunday.
