PORT ADELAIDE assistant coach Brett Montgomery is pleased with the consistency and reliability his side is showing in 2020 after Saturday’s strong win over Richmond, but he has stopped short of labelling it the club’s biggest win.

Port dominated all of the vital statistics but couldn’t put the Tigers away until the last quarter before running out 21-point winners.

The win keeps the Power on top of the AFL ladder with nine wins from its eleven games and Montgomery says it was an important performance against the reigning premier.

“I think the timing of it was important because I don’t think our last month has been fantastic,” he explained during a press conference on Monday.

“I think we’ve been rolling along and in terms of consistency and reliability we’ve been able to carve out wins when we haven’t been playing great.

“In terms of the last month it was a big performance for us. It was a big game, it was a statement game, but whether it was our biggest win I’m not sure.”

With a one-point deficit going into the final quarter, Port was up against it, with the Tigers piling on four consecutive goals going into the last break.

But Montgomery said he was confident the side would stand up, as it did in the last term.

“There was a general feel that we were playing good footy and the scoreboard didn’t really reflect that. Now that at times can be a bit of a cop out, but we genuinely felt we were doing plenty right and it was just a couple of really silly errors and some great play by them to take advantage was enough to get them right back in the contest,” he said.

“I do hear that’s the type of game we would have lost in the past. That’s not the feeling I have with this group.

“It’s a new group and there’s a lot of confidence around what we’re doing and the way we’re going about it.

“There’s a lot of reliability in what we’re trying to do at the moment.

“I think last year was really clear that we were inconsistent with results and we were inconsistent with game style so we’ve done a pretty decent job to iron that out and I think we’re achieving some reliability in our game.”

Montgomery said much of the side’s success could be put down to having players performing when selected and others pushing for selection to keep them in form.

Having had consecutive four and five day breaks, Port could be excused for managing some players by giving them a rest in coming weeks but that will be unlikely according to the defensive coach.

“I don’t think it’ll be our philosophy to go in and try manage (players) and try to be too creative with the draw,” he explained.

“At this stage, we know we’ve got Geelong, we know we’ve got Hawthorn and after that it’s still up in the air.

“It makes it really really difficult to future plan so as you saw with Connor Rozee on the weekend, it’s a case by case at the moment.”

Next up is a Friday night bout with Geelong at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast – a venue which Port Adelaide has never lost at, including four wins there this year.

“We took the challenge on early in the year really really well. I think the dimensions of (the ground) suit the way we want to play,” Montgomery said.

“If we can get over those obstacles we had earlier in the year when we had a 4:30am wakeup and 5:30am plane, then get in and out in the day – these are the resilience challenges the guys have faced all year and this is just another one of those.

“We’ll head up there again and take on another big opponent.”