Coach Mark Williams took making the eight off the agenda after last week’s narrow loss to Richmond, but on Wednesday, Motlop revealed his September dream was still alive.
“Personally, I’m going out to win on Saturday night,” Motlop said.
“I still think we can make finals even if no one else does, so we’re going out there to win.”
Port Adelaide is still a mathematical chance to make the eight, but the Power would need to win virtually all of their remaining nine games to complete what would be a remarkable turnaround.
The Power will head to Darwin this week to tackle the in-form Western Bulldogs on Saturday. The Dogs have labelled TIO Stadium their ‘home away from home’, but for Motlop, Darwin is home.
The 26-year-old grew up playing football for the Wanderers in the Northern Territory and was hopeful of a happy homecoming this week.
“It’s obviously an exciting week for myself and Shaun Burgoyne was born there too,” Motlop said.
“Everyone is still up there, so all my family will be at the game and hopefully they (the club) can organise me some tickets.”
The Western Bulldogs underwent some heat training on Tuesday in a bid to acclimatise to the warmer Darwin weather. Port Adelaide will fly out Friday morning and train at the ground prior to the game, but Motlop said coping with the conditions was more a state of mind.
“It’s pretty nice in Darwin at this time of year being dry season. It’s pretty cool and the humidity is not as bad, but I suppose, not coming from there you might feel it a little bit. Personally, I’ll enjoy it,” he said.
“It’s just another game and it’s just a mental toughness thing to be able to push through the heat.”
The Power and their coach have come under fire in the media over recent weeks and Motlop said it was important the group remained positive and stayed tight.
“Choco’s doing a good job and there is no negativity in the group. Everyone loves him down here and all the coaches are doing a good job. Hopefully a win comes and stops all this stuff that is going on,” Motlop said.
“[Going to Darwin] is not so much about getting away; we just really want to win and that’s all we’re thinking about.
“A win solves all the negativity, so it would be nice to get a win before the break because two weeks to think about a loss is a long time in footy.”
Motlop has recently been included in the club's leadership group and said the role was created in order to provide the group with a fresh perspective.
“[Being in the leadership group] is just about having a say and if something isn’t going right, you speak up,” he said.
“It’s about seeing something and acting on it. If someone’s not doing something right, like putting the weights away or something, that’s all it is. Just making sure everything is done right at the club.”
Motlop has played all 13 games this season and, with 39 goals already, is on track to better his 2007 tally of 44. But the creative forward said losing had taken the shine off his stellar individual form.
“I think last year was really good even though I missed a few games with injury,” he said.
“You’d rather be kicking one goal a game and winning. When the team is down like this and you kick a couple of goals it’s not as good I suppose.”
