There is no doubt that the Gold Coast Suns are a genuine team now. They’re no longer the newcomers or the young team, they’re a genuine contender and I think their ladder position suggests that. While it was great to get the win over the Suns last Sunday, there were some areas of our game that we weren’t quite happy with and we’ve had a bit of a look at them this week. We know we need to build on a couple of areas heading into this weekend’s match with Port Adelaide. We didn’t feel it was a four-quarter effort against the Suns, and we’ll need to improve this week against the ladder leaders.

One player who stood up last week against the Suns was Dan Hannebery. He was solid, he played hard and won his own ball and came away with a perfect ten votes in the AFL Coaches Associations votes. He played different roles and played both inside and outside, so he’s got a few different styles of game, which is a real strength for him as a player. Certainly, when ‘Hanners’ is playing hard, he’s playing his best measure of footy, and that’s the type of football he played last week. We hope to see a repeat performance from Dan this week, as well as from our other midfielders against the Power, who have so much midfielder talent.

This week, it’s all about consistency. If we switch off for ten minutes, we know Port Adelaide can score heavily and score quickly. If we give them a look in for a five or ten-minute patch, we know that they can actually take the game away from us, so we can’t afford to let that happen. There is no doubt that Port Adelaide are going very well this season, and their players are all playing hard, pressure football. In Brad Ebert, Ollie Wines, Travis Boak, Matt Broadbent, Jared Polec, Kane Cornes and Chad Wingard, they probably have the deepest midfield going around in the competition. There is a lot of talk about our midfield, but they are not so bad themselves.

This week is a big game, and we’re going to do everything we can to get the win, particularly against a side who are two games ahead of us. We need to try and peg one back, and last week was good in getting a win over the Gold Coast to get the points and move one game clear of them, so it would be nice to pull one back against the Power this week. It’s always a great challenge coming up against the team on top of the ladder, and we’re really looking forward to hosting them at home at the SCG. We know Port Adelaide are excited to come here and try and put another win on the board, so we need to do everything we can to come away with the points.