SA Footy

Tooting Bec wrote:what's port's record up at Sydney like? I remember Jared Poulton kicking a goal after the siren one year but can't remember them having to much success other than that.

NOW it is Port Adelaide's turn to deal with the "soft" tag, not in its conventional form - questioning the Power players' physical toughness - but their noted fragile mental state. And as the Power collapsed to another loss after a victory - this time by 55 points to Sydney at the SCG yesterday - Port skipper Dom Cassisi last night made the most telling act of his new captaincy by demanding a session of accountability at Alberton this morning.

While Williams denied his team was soft physically he accepted his players' attitude to some basic football tasks could be labelled that way.

Cassisi described Port's one-goal opening, while conceding 8.1 to the Swans, as the worst in his time at the Power since joining the club at the end of the 2000 season.

At this morning's game review at Alberton, Cassisi expects video analysis to identify which Power players allowed their Swans opponents to run unchecked into space and thereby sabotaging the Port midfielders' hard work in claiming first possession in the first quarter.

Five of Sydney's eight goals in the first term were from stoppages.

"It felt we were trying really hard in the middle. I felt we got our hands to the ball first and were quick kicking it out," Cassisi said after the loss, which has tumbled Port from fourth to seventh on the AFL ladder while Sydney rose from 10th to fifth.

"They (the Swans) seemed to spread really well out of the stoppage. They were first to get to that footy and then it felt like they had players everywhere. They went forward and scored every time.

"On Monday we will watch the tape and identify who should have been on these guys and why things fell down."

For the sixth consecutive week, since beating AFL premier Hawthorn at the MCG on April 18, Port has worked a win-loss sequence which has mystified its players.

"It is the million-dollar question - and it is really frustrating," Cassisi said of Port's inconsistency."

"The feeling before the game. I remember saying to (ruckman Dean Brogan) 'Broges' as we were warming up, that the boys feel on today. The feeling was great.

"And to then serve that up in the first quarter, it is probably fair to say it was embarrassing. It is probably the worst quarter I have been involved in as a player at Port.

"We made it a focus during the week to change the trend of win-lose-win-lose. For us to come out and do that in the first quarter was embarrassing on our behalf.

"We are going to need to have a hard week on the track to turn it around for this week (against Collingwood) at the MCG.

"There is still a lot of footy to be played this year and as a leadership group, as captain, I have to make sure that we're sticking together as a group. We have to learn from it." Port last night reported no injury which would force changes at selection on Thursday.

Booney wrote:He said quarter, not match...

Pearce,Surjan,P.Burgoyne,Brogan,Chaplin and to a lesser extent Carlisle failed to respect their 1st quarter opponents.