PORT Adelaide's Angus Monfries denies he's feeling the pressure of the ongoing investigation into Essendon's supplements saga.
Monfries kicked a career-best seven goals against Geelong on Saturday to underline the point and was the key reason the margin was just 25 points at the final siren.
It was a fine rearguard action from the 26-year-old who joined Port Adelaide from Essendon at the end of 2012 after 150 games with the Bombers.
However, he refused to give any indication if he had been told he would be eligible to play finals given he was at the club during its controversial 2011-2012 season.
"I'm just here to talk about footy," Monfries said after the match.
"I'm not worrying about that sort of stuff."
Monfries' seven took him to 35 goals in 2013 - his best in a season. His previous best in eight years at Essendon was 31 in 2011.
His coach Ken Hinkley was impressed, as he has been whenever Monfries name is mentioned in 2013.
"It's a pretty special effort to get seven. It doesn't happen very often and especially down here against their back half," Hinkley said. "We know how hard they are to play on. It was a really good performance by him."
His partner-in-crime Chad Wingard, who has kicked 36 goals was unable to lend much support, coming back to earth after his standout performance a week earlier.
Hinkley said the fact four-time All-Australian, Geelong's Corey Enright, was given the job on Wingard reflected the level of respect he now held in the competition. He was pleased with the 19-year-old's ability to kick a goal and have 13 disposals in the second half after just eight touches in the first half.
"It's great for him. Chad learned from it. [I] thought he influenced the game in the second half … and got his share of the ball but that is the quality you get when you start to deliver the numbers he has got all year," Hinkley said.
Hinkley denied it was work-rate or attitude or fatigue setting in late in the season that caused Port Adelaide to drop 63 points behind early in the last quarter before charging home with the final six goals.
"They're a really experienced side and they play that way and we are going to get to that stage at some point ourselves, but we don't to be sitting around waiting for that to happen," Hinkley said. "We are going to try to force that to happen as much as we can. We are going to be really proactive about getting there as early as we can."
He said the result reinforced the gap between Geelong and Port Adelaide but it wasn't time for concern. His focus was on next week's opponent, Gold Coast.
"I'm not going to dwell on how good Geelong were today against us. I'm going to look more at how good we've being to keep going and stay in the game," Hinkley said.
