Port Adelaide defender Tom Jonas at a loss to explain Power’s poor kicking in AFL loss to Richmond at Adelaide Oval

PORT Adelaide defender Tom Jonas didn’t mince words as the Power players digested a 13-point loss to Richmond on Saturday night: poor goalkicking had killed them and it had been a problem all year.

Tom Jonas gets a handball away against Richmond. Picture: Sarah Reed

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PORT Adelaide defender Tom Jonas didn’t mince words as the Power players digested a 13-point loss to Richmond on Saturday night: poor goalkicking had killed them and it had been a problem all year.

What’s worse, Jonas said the players and coaches had been acutely aware of it for some time.

They had tried every conceivable remedy but it continues to be a problem.

What makes it even more frustrating is that so many other areas of Port Adelaide’s game are first-rate. The Power had more kicks than the Tigers, more contested marks, more contested disposals and more inside 50s.

“Goal kicking killed us; it’s as simple as that,” Jonas said. “A lot of time in our forward half, 68 entries or something like that and just didn’t finish our work.

“We’re playing some strong football but bad kicking is bad football, you know.

“And it’s haunted us all year so we need to get on top of it. It’s as simple as that.”

What hasn’t been simple has been to find a way out of the wasteful situation. Jonas said it hadn’t been for a lack of trying or not recognising the issue.

“To be honest, we don’t know,” Jonas said. “We’ve tried everything.

“It might be as simple as not doing any goalkicking for a week.

“We’ve wracked our brains and we just don’t know.

“It’s been an ongoing issue.”

The elephant in the room notwithstanding, the players recognised that there was much that was done well in the close match against Richmond.

The Power headed into the match as the top-ranked defence in the competition, Richmond second, and the match wasn’t decided until Richmond strung together a run of goals in the last quarter.

“There are a lot of positives in the way we’re playing the game,” Jonas said. “We’ve just got to kick our goals.

“We’re missing some very easy shots.

“Obviously there are going to be some (shots) that are going to be tough, that you might only kick one out of three, but when push comes to shove we’re missing goals that we should kick.”