THE ENORMITY of Port Adelaide’s thrillingthree-point win over West Coast is yet to really sink in, according to defenderToby Thurstans.
The Power approached the finals almost likea huge bonus round having exceeded all expectations by rocketing from 12th lastseason to finish second on the ladder.
Now, after overrunning the reigningpremiers, Port Adelaide has a guaranteed home preliminary final and an evenchance of making the club’s first grand final since 2004.
“It’s going to sink in over the next weekor so,” Thurstans said after the game.
“It’s think it’s going to hit home tomorrowwhat we’ve actually achieved, in terms of winning another close game, fightingit out to the end and having that never give up attitude.”
The Power quashed speculation their gameplan wouldn’t stand up to finals pressure, toughing out the low-scoring andoften error-riddled affair.
“I actually think we play that [hard,contested] style of game pretty well,” Thurstans said.
“There were quite a few turnovers and wewere lucky they were all pretty wide. Obviously in the first final theintensity and the pressure from the opposition goes up 100 times to what it wasin the home and away season.”
“The games aren’t going to be as clean, asfree flowing or as high scoring and that’s just to be expected. We just had tostick to it and knew our hard work would pay off in the end.”
Thurstans said the group would take “immense”confidence out of the hard-fought win, in particular the young players who hadtheir first taste of finals footy.
“Nine players played their first finaltonight and won. To see them get the enjoyment out of winning a final is greatand it really puts them a lot further ahead than where they were last week,knowing that they can compete at that level in an intense situation,” he said.
“David Rodan played his first final sincebeing in the AFL and he didn’t really know what it was all about, but tonight Ihaven’t seen the smile come off his face yet and that’s just awesome.”
The Power have earned the luxury of aweek’s break to enjoy a lighter workload and sit back and watch the other teamsbattle it out for a right to play at AAMI Stadium in a fortnight’s time.
Michael Wilson (kick to the calf), BrettEbert (knock to the knee), Dean Brogan (ankle) and Darryl Wakelin (adductor)will all benefit from the extended recovery time.
Port Adelaide’s preliminary final opponentis likely to be one of either the Kangaroos, Geelong, Hawthorn or evenAdelaide, which would create the second ‘Ultimate Showdown’ in two years.
“You never know how it will pan out,”Thurstans said with a wry smile.
“Adelaide’sgot a big task at hand on Saturday against Hawthorn. We’ll be watching thatgame and the Kangaroos-Geelong game with intent and if it is an ‘UltimateShowdown’, then bring it on.”
