Captain Travis Boak shows the way at Port Adelaide training. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe Source: News Limited
"CLOSE is not good enough''.
That was Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak's strong message to his teammates yesterday as the full playing squad trained for the first time since the heartbreaking preliminary final defeat to eventual premier Hawthorn 72 days ago.
Rather than put the Power's three-point loss down to some bad luck, Boak put the heat on the playing squad to improve in a sure-fire sign that Port will accept nothing less than a premiership next season.
Kane Cornes and Travis Boak after the Power's 3km time-trial. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe Source: News Limited
"Close is not good enough, we don't want to be a kick away (from a grand final),'' Boak said after the club's oldest player Kane Cornes again dominated the 3km time trial.
"The simple fact is we know we weren't good enough to play in a grand final and we weren't good enough to go right to the end.
"So we have to make sure that next year we are good enough to go all the way and right now that starts with pre-season training and pushing each other to make sure we improve."
The Power traded for what many pundits believe will be the missing link in its bid for a second AFL premiership and first since 2004 by securing ruckman/forward Paddy Ryder from Essendon.
Recruit Paddy Ryder at Port Adelaide training. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe Source: News Limited
Boak talked Ryder up as being "a fantastic player and great person'' who will add potency to the attack and help give Port's midfielders an armchair ride with his ruckwork.
But he said Ryder alone would not get the Power over the premiership hump.
"Every individual has to make sure they get better and that includes me, whether it's my captaincy or my own game,'' Boak said.
Boak praised Cornes for setting the example at the first training session for the entire playing group this off-season yesterday when, at age 31, he set a new personal best for the 3km time trial to blitz the field.
"He's the oldest player on our list and he continued to improve himself," said Boak, whose team heads to Dubai on Friday for a two-week training camp.
Brad Ebert and Justin Westhoff at training at the Adelaide Uni loop. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe Source: News Limited
Young defender Tom Clurey and running half-back Sam Colquhoun — on the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction — finished second and third and Boak said many players set personal best times.
"When we finished last season we had a chat and said we have to come back in really good shape because we weren't good enough last year, Hawthorn was too good for us, and that if we are fair dinkum we have to go to another level again,'' he said.
"We have to keep driving each other to improve, whether it's fitness, skills or competitiveness, all that sort of stuff has just got to go to another step and it was good to see the boys come back in such good shape.''
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