Port Adelaide has made a habit of winning close games in 2023.
Of their 13 wins so far this season, the Power have saluted by 14 points or less on seven occasions, with five of those being single-figure victories.
Last Saturday night, Ken Hinkley’s side beat Essendon by four points courtesy of a remarkable after-the-siren goal from Dan Houston from outside 50.
The Power match-winner revealed that he and his teammates thrive on the close stuff by embracing the chaos and being prepared for the fight.
“You sort of make eye contact with your teammates and you get a cheeky smile back and a head nod, saying we’re ready for this again,” Houston told SEN SA Breakfast.
“Embracing the moment and taking it as an opportunity to learn. Even if we do lose, we’re going to lose the right way, we’re going to have a crack, we’re going to always go for the win.
“That’s the mindset we’re in. We’ve definitely talked about it at the club as a team, it’s something we work on. Even today we will review the last few minutes and what we could even do better next time to make sure it’s a bit smoother.
“It is a good spot to be in. Sometimes it does come down to the bounce of the ball at the end of the day, but as long as we’re doing everything we can to give ourselves the best opportunity, that’s what really matters.”
Houston’s outrageous set shot was the culmination of another hard-fought Port performance which ended in victory.
The 26-year-old has again recalled the words said to him by teammate Trent McKenzie moments before he won the game on a wet night at the MCG.
“In the past 24 hours I think it’s been well documented that Trent McKenzie came up to me as I was going back and said, ‘Have this shot and if you miss, I love you no matter what’,” Houston said.
“I didn’t really give it too much attention in the heat of the moment, there was a bit going on in my head.
“After, I did thank him for that because it did calm me down a little bit and put everything into perspective.”
He says the Power have been doing plenty of work around communication and this was a perfect example of the playing group being on the same page.
“As a group we’ve done a lot of work on those tight situations and there’s a lot of structural stuff that goes on that you need to nail down,” Houston said.
“I think we’ve also tapped into the communication and mindset side. We’ve spoken about talking to each other calmly but firmly.
“That wasn’t as firm from him (McKenzie), but it was calm and came across to me and calmed me down. No doubt that helped in the end.”
Houston, McKenzie and the Power will look to implement all their tools as they go about extending their 12-game winning streak when they host Gold Coast at the Adelaide Oval this Saturday night.