ROBBIE Gray concedes Port Adelaide's finals hopes are all but gone, but insists his team still has a lot to play for over the final two rounds of the season.
Port's 22-point win over Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium on Friday night was a reminder of what an exciting team Ken Hinkley's men can be at their best.
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It also took the Power to 40 premiership points and within two games of Richmond (sixth), North Melbourne (seventh) and a game-and-a-half of Adelaide (eighth), although all three teams have yet to play their round 21 games.
Port would have to win its final two games of the season – against Gold Coast (Metricon Stadium) and Fremantle (Adelaide Oval) – and rely on a string of other results all falling its way to make the top eight.
Gray knows it's a huge long shot, and says Port just wants to get back to playing the brand of football that took it to a preliminary final last year after its season reached its nadir with a 10-goal loss to the Western Bulldogs in round 19.
"We're not looking at finals really. We know we would have to get really lucky to make them, so all we're doing is trying to concentrate on getting something out of these last few weeks," Gray told AFL.com.au.
"We just want to get back to playing really strong competitive football.
"We were really disappointed after the Bulldogs game, so we really set ourselves for the last four weeks of the year.
"We're two weeks down and that's been pleasing, but we've got another couple to finish off with."
Gray was outstanding against the Hawks, finishing with 33 possessions, an equal team-high seven clearances and seven inside 50s, and a game-high six score assists – three more than the next best player on the ground, Cyril Rioli.
Gray modestly assessed his performance as "not too bad", preferring to focus on what he said was one of the Power's best wins of 2015.
"We've had a bit of an inconsistent year, so it was good to put four quarters together," he said.
"We know what a quality team Hawthorn is, so we knew it was going to be a good challenge. But the boys were up to it, which was really pleasing.
"It's been a very inconsistent year, but the last couple of weeks we've started to play some better footy."
