PORT ADELAIDE president Greg Boulton says the disappointing grand final loss to Geelong will fill the club with inspiration, not fear, heading into the 2008 season.

Boulton rejected suggestion it would’ve been more beneficial for the young team to bow out in the preliminary final rather than endure the “embarrassing” loss by opening Saturday night’s best and fairest ceremony with a quote from former US President Theodore Roosevelt.

“…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena … who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

Coach Mark Williams preferred to use his own words when describing how his team would “learn” and not “walk away” from what was a dark day in an otherwise bright season.

“We didn’t achieve what we went into [the grand final to] achieve. We didn’t play well and it’s something that you can never take back. You can never play it again, it takes a long season to get there and we’ve got a lot of work in front of us to get back there again,” he said.

“I’m not sure how many people have actually watched the game again, but I know the coaching staff have. We don’t walk away from it. We’ll learn from it and we’ll get better in ourselves. We look forward to our next opportunity and we’ll make sure it’s a much better result.”

Williams labelled the 2007 playing group, which included three All-Australians and three NAB Rising Star nominees, as the most “receptive to learn” in his 15-year-coaching career and said there were “exciting chapters” ahead for the Port Adelaide Football Club.

“We’re a little ahead of where we thought we would be but we won’t lose sight of exactly where we want to get to,” he said.

“In my 15 years of coaching I’ve never been more proud than I am of this group of players who never set limits on themselves and always looked to the possibilities ahead.

“But Port Adelaide has never and will never accept second best, so we’ve certainly got some work to do. Be assured the drive, persistence and determination of this group will lead us to even greater heights.”