IN A TEAM recently criticised for its endeavour at the ball,there's one Power player whose passion can never be questioned.
Defender Jacob Surjan was a solid contributor against theHawks, gathering 22 possessions across half-back.
Before Sunday, Surjan ranked sixth at Port Adelaide incontested possession and fifth in the club's loose ball gets.
But Surjan, the ultimate team man, refused to acknowledgehis impressive performance in the wake of the club's 34-point loss.
"I can't really go on my form because the teamlost," Surjan told portadelaidefc.com.au.
"I would have rather had half the amount of possessionsand played in a win."
The Power defenders had their work cut out against a Hawksoutfit that ventured inside their attacking 50m arc on 49 occasions.
Surjan battled hard against Hawthorn's hard-runningmidfielders who continued to push forward.
"Hawthorn rotated a lot during the game, so ShaneCrawford would come out, Ben McGlynn would come out and then Jordan Lewis movedacross half-forward too," Surjan said.
"I think I ended up playing on five or six opponents bythe end of the game and it didn't get any easier."
Port
But the Power were again unable to maintain the pressurewith poor goalkicking not aiding their cause.
“To Hawthorn's credit, they stuck to their guns and theycame back in that second quarter with some good footy," Surjan said.
"Kicking 2.9 after half time was just not good enough.It really let us down and I'm sure it's something we'll sort out during theweek. We've put a lot of practice into our goalkicking, both over thepre-season and week-to-week and it's disappointing that it's not payingoff."
The young team that faced the Hawks included nine playerswith less than 50 games experience and has plenty of room for improvement.
The challenge now for Port Adelaide is to remain positivedespite three straight losses.
Fronting up for the club's 9am recovery session on Monday,Surjan said there was no better way to regain confidence than with a win over
"For three or four weeks there everyone was happybecause we were winning. Now we have to stay upbeat and improve the mood,"Surjan said.
"We're still six and four which is a pretty good startfor us- no one tipped us to be in the top eight or anywhere near it. But it'snot acceptable to lose three in a row and we'll pull our heads in this week andhave a good game against
