MATTHEW Broadbent has all but conceded Port Adelaide players will be going on holiday in September again this year.
But he vowed to fight to the end of another ordinary season for the Power, who finished ninth last year after being fifth in 2013 and third in 2014.
Port heads into the bye two games plus percentage outside the top eight with just nine games to go.
Talking points: Fremantle v Port Adelaide
"We are certainly in a bit of strife – that was a do-or-die game for us," Broadbent said after the 17-point loss to the Dockers.
"You can never say never and never give up and we’re going to keep fighting but we are on the wrong side of the ledger now so we’ve just got to work at each game and not look too far ahead.
"We are going to have a lot of time to think about this (loss) which will hurt.
"But we are not going to stop fighting.
"We are going to come back in the second half of the year and try and get some momentum.
"We can’t really be thinking about finals. We’ve just got to take each week at a time now. Obviously we are on the wrong side of the ledger at the minute."
Echoing coach Ken Hinkley’s attitude, Broadbent said the focus at Alberton Oval would now be on developing some consistency within matches.
"We have patches but we didn’t give enough when it mattered," he said.
"We didn’t take our opportunities but in saying that we were lucky to still be in it at half-time.
"Our start to the game was pretty average.”
He said the senior Power core needed to drive a strong finish to the season.
"Their (Fremantle’s) senior guys stood up (Lachie) Neale, (Michael) Barlow and Pav (Matthew Pavlich) and our guys didn’t and that was the difference at the end of the day,” Broadbent said.
"Contested footy, those guys like Barlow and Neale were just tougher and stronger in there, and Mundy. They got the job done, we didn’t.
"We’ve found patches of form but when the pressure is on we are consistently poor.
"We need to improve, the leaders included but senior blokes who have played a lot of footy.
"You can’t rely on your blokes like Darcy Byrne-Jones, he’s been amazing for us but you can’t rely on him being the only one standing up.
"He’s done some big jobs for us this year and he’s a shining light. We need a few more."
