The Port are closing in on an undefeated season but have a tough run home

As Cygnet claims another premiership contenders scalp to make it a perfect 11, coach Lachy Watt opens up on the outside noise, undefeated season and how the cliché won’t stop their brand of footy.

There are plenty of clichés in footy and probably none bigger than the undefeated team throughout the year losing a game in a final.

Huonville know the feeling all too well, going undefeated in 2023 only to lose to Cygnet in the grand final.

Lindisfarne defied the odds, going undefeated in 2022 and claimed the premiership that year.

Could the same thing happen to Cygnet in 2025?

Coach Lachy Watts said that if a loss were to occur, he would prefer it to happen within the last five home and away games.

“It’s a good question, obviously Huonville, when we beat them in 2023, they went through the season undefeated,” Watt said.

“But then at the same time, Lindisfarne the year before went through undefeated (and won it) and then last year we had that one loss sort of mid way through the year as well.

“I don’t know, it’d be really nice if we could go through the season undefeated but at the same time, a loss isn’t the end of the world.

Cygnet have won 11 games in a row this season as they look to hold an undefeated season. Picture: Jake Garland

“What it does is it can kick the boys back into gear a bit and bring them back down to earth.”

The Port have won 11 from 11 games so far this season, in fact they haven’t lost a game since losing to Huonville in round 12 last year, June 29 to be exact.

They have now won 18 games in a row and took care of business once again on Saturday, this time against top five contender Sorell at Pembroke Park.

Despite the hype from around the league, the outside noise doesn’t enter the four walls down at Cygnet Oval according to Watt.

“I am certainly happy how we’re going and we’ve actually won a lot of games this year being nowhere near our full strength,” Watt said.

“So to come to this point in the season having not lost a game, it’s a really positive and good reward for effort for the boys for how they bought in throughout the pre-season and the season to date.

SFL Community League - Cygnet players celebrate a goal kicked by Joseph Direen during the match against Sorell at Pembroke Park. Picture: Jake Garland

“But it is still obviously a long way to go and we want to really make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves because as soon as the people start getting a bit too overconfident or too ahead of themselves, that’s when we can really lose our momentum and lose some easy games.

“Especially getting so close to finals, we want to make sure that we’re at our best every week.”

The Port took a 13-point victory over the Eagles on Saturday and will now look ahead to the round 12 clash against big rivals Lindisfarne at home.

It is the start of a tough couple of weeks for Cygnet who then host third placed Dodges Ferry in round 13 before Claremont in round 14 then Huonville in round 15 and New Norfolk to finish off the season.

“It’s a tough one, going into the back end of the year and you know you’re going to make finals,” Watt said.

“It’s a bit of a balance between managing the sore bodies, which we have a lot of and also wanting to play really good sides.

“Obviously that’s the type of teams that you’re going to come up against in finals.

“So it’s kind of a 50-50, one regard you get to potentially rest some boys that have been battling through injuries throughout the year.

“But then the other side of the table is that you potentially don’t get those opportunities playing against the really good sides.

“I reckon the closest we’ve had (to a full strength side) is having four out of our best 22 which is good sign but at the same time, we’ve really struggled to get continuity throughout the year.”

Originally published as The Port are closing in on an undefeated season but have a tough run home