Port Adelaide's 57-point loss to Fremantle at Subiaco Oval extended the club's losing streak to seven defeats for the first time in its history.
In just his sixth AFL game, Broadbent looked confident and assured as he gathered 19 possessions and eight marks to be one of Port Adelaide’s best players over four quarters.
Broadbent said the club’s run of losses had not dented the confidence of the younger players.
“The feeling among the young guys has actually been really positive,” Broadbent said. “We’ve been working hard on the track and the feeling before the game was pretty good. We really thought we could push through and get a win even though Perth is a tough road trip.
“They got off to a good start but we worked hard to get ourselves back into it. We really gave ourselves a chance at half-time but things didn’t fall our way.
“A loss like that leaves everyone a bit flat but we’ll head home, review the match and start working toward next week.”
Power coach Mark Williams highlighted the efforts of Broadbent, Mitch Banner (23 possessions), Nick Salter (17) and Jackson Trengove (14) as one of the positives to come from the loss but said the club needed some of its senior players to return from injury to get the right mix of youth and experience.
Broadbent said the absence of players like Warren Tredrea, Travis Boak, Jacob Surjan, Nathan Krakouer and Robbie Gray was always going to be hard to cover.
“There’s no question that injuries have hurt us but it’s pointless to try to use that as an excuse,” he said.
“I think we had six guys today who had played 11 games or less. So it’s opened the door for some of the younger guys and it’s then up to us to grab that opportunity.
“We’ve got to stay positive and keep believing in what we’re doing.
“We’ve got a pretty tough match next up against Collingwood but we’re just going to have a crack and who knows what might happen.”
