CAPTAIN Dom Cassisi says Port Adelaide's nightmarish season must "burn" inside the players and drive them to improve over the pre-season.

The Power avoided the wooden spoon with a fighting eight-point win over Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, but it wasn't enough to prevent the club recording its worst-ever season (three wins and 19 losses).

Port Adelaide posted several other unwanted records in 2011, slumping to consecutive record defeats at the hands of Collingwood and Hawthorn in rounds 20 and 21 and enduring an 11-game losing streak in the latter-half of the season.

Cassisi confirmed it had been a difficult year for his team, but said the players couldn't afford to wipe the season from their memories.

"You've got to let [the season] burn within," Cassisi said on Monday.

"I think you learn most as a player in the tough times. I'd like to think a lot of the guys learned a fair bit about themselves, and about their teammates.

"We've got a lot of areas to improve on and we spoke about that this morning.

"We can't just rock up on day one of pre-season training expecting things to happen and things to change.

"We have to be proactive as a playing group and as individuals over the summer to try and get better because we're definitely not happy with how the year went."

The Power players will start their post-season break on Thursday, with the first group of players (1-3 years) not required back at Alberton until November 3.

Cassisi issued a warning to any teammates contemplating "letting themselves go" during the two-month break.

"We need to try and get ahead of the pack," he said.

"Anyone that comes back in eight weeks time in poor physical condition, it's a sign that 2011 wasn't painful enough for them.

"For any player to want to take that risk is pretty daring on their behalf."

Port Adelaide unveiled seven debutants this season and made a conscious decision to get game time into inexperienced players like Hamish Hartlett, Matthew Lobbe, Mitch Banner and Matt Broadbent.

However, Cassisi said his team would improve most with a lift from its more mature players, including Steven Salopek, Brett Ebert, Troy Chaplin and David Rodan, who all had indifferent seasons.
"We can't shy away from the fact that us senior players need to improve and that includes myself and the guys that have played 100-150 games," Cassisi said.

"A lot of responsibility has fallen on us this year and we probably didn't deliver on a consistent basis.

"We need to be a lot better next year … because it means the young kids coming in can find their feet without a lot of pressure on them.

"We need to soften the blow for the young guys and the responsibility falls back on the guys that have been here a while."

Port Adelaide attracted its second-biggest crowd (29,340) of the season for the historic clash with the Demons at Adelaide Oval.

The one-off game was a preview of the permanent move of AFL matches to the iconic inner-city venue in 2014 or 2015.

Construction on the $535 million redevelopment will begin in March.

Cassisi described the atmosphere on Sunday as "electric", but encouraged the Power faithful to support the club at AAMI Stadium in the two years leading up to the move to Adelaide Oval.

"It was a true testament to our members and supporters that they did come out and support us and I urge them to come back because we loved every minute of being out there," he said.

"We understand that we're going to be playing the next few years at AAMI Stadium, but yesterday showed the crowd that we can pull.

"We had 30,000 Port Adelaide supporters there on Father's Day and it would be great for them to turn out at AAMI Stadium."

Katrina Gill covers Port Adelaide news for afl.com.au. Follow her on Twitter: @AFL_KatrinaGill