It’s always a challenge to bounce straight back after you lose a game, and to the players’ credit, we were able to beat Essendon, who have been in some really good form. We were really pleased to be able to get straight back on the winners’ list, especially in front of a home crowd.

Looking at our defence, we were really happy with the role Health Grundy played on Jake Carlisle. Carlisle had been fantastic over the previous three matches and had taken something like 32 marks and kicked 14 goals in that time. Heading into the match we saw him as a real threat and looked to be their main goal kicker with Joe Daniher out of the side.  With that in mind, we thought Heath did a fantastic job on him, and was able to restrict him to just two marks and one goal for the night.

Gary Rohan was another player who really impressed against the Bombers, and has impressed over the last two weeks. He’s really added some dash off the half-back line. So with Rhyce Shaw and Nick Malceski, Rohan’s addition means we’ve really got some speed coming out of defence, so we’re really happy with the way Gary is going and the way he’s really been able to play consistent football for us over the last couple of weeks. It was great to get Rhyce back out on the park last week after missing four matches, because he is such an important player for us. His on-field leadership and voice is second to none and he’s such an important player in our back half.

This weekend we head to Adelaide to take on the Power at Adelaide Oval. We saw Port at the start of the year and know how hard they were to beat, so we’re expecting them to be at their best this week. They have had a couple of losses in recent weeks, but they have been close matches, so we expect them to bounce back to the form we know they are capable of producing.

They have a very talented midfield and some exciting forwards that can kick a score to win, so we need to make sure we maintain the dominance through the midfield and make sure our defenders keep on top of the likes of Jay Schulz, Chad Wingard and Robbie Gray, who can all be very dangerous players if they get away from us.

The last time we met the Power it was a fierce contest back in round 13 at the SCG, and we know it’s going to be a fierce contest once again. This time we’re over on their home deck, so it’s going to be even tougher. We know that their very best is very tough to beat, so we’re going to have to be at our best this week.