PORT Adelaide has taken a giant leap forward in 2013 but if it's to continue building and not slump next year, veteran midfielder Dom Cassisi says the next 12 weeks are vital.
Speaking to the media upon arrival at Adelaide Airport after going down to Geelong by 16 points on Friday night, Cassisi said his side couldn't afford a slow start to its pre-season.
The former skipper insisted it was too early and "dangerous" to predict whether the Power could go further next season.
His focus was on the first day back at training.
"I think it's pretty dangerous to start looking too far ahead, I think the next 12 weeks are really important for our group," Cassisi said.
"We need to come back in really good condition, day one pre-season.
"The next 10-12 weeks are probably the most critical weeks that we need to look at right now.
"Seeing the improvement in pretty much everyone on our list is pretty exciting, it just goes to show the footy program we've got down there at the moment is really good.
"But we can't just rest on what we've done this year, it's back to work very soon."
Cassisi said the Power "let a great opportunity slip" on Friday night, after leading by 23 points at half-time.
He admitted he thought they were in the perfect position to cause yet another upset.
In the end though Cassisi conceded the Cats stars like Paul Chapman, Joel Selwood and Steve Johnson managed to stand up when needed.
"We thought we had them exactly where we wanted them and to their credit they played some really impressive footy in that second half," Cassisi said.
"They just really nutted us in the contested possession, tackles and all that sort of stuff – the stuff that really matters when the game's on the line.
"Their key players really stood up and we probably just didn't handle it as well as we would have liked."
"Every time we've played Geelong this year we've just learned so much."
The 30-year-old said the experience this finals campaign has provided the Power's youngsters would prove invaluable.
As well as the hunger clearly present within the group, he said the Power's finals success had proved Ken Hinkley's game would hold the club in good stead.
"It's priceless, to be able to put ourselves in front of decent sized crowds at the MCG and against really quality opposition, it's a massive learning curve for us," he said.
"The next time we get there the boys will be better prepared again and we look forward to the next chance.
"We've got great confidence in the foundations that Ken and the coaches have laid down with our game-plan, we know it holds up in big games.
"We've got another opportunity this summer to grow that, another pre-season under 'Burgo' (Darren Burgess), another three or four months to develop our game-plan further under Ken."
