Port Adelaide wingman Jared Polec relives AFL elimination final with different ending

AFTER being the villain in Port Adelaide’s last-minute loss in the elimination final in September, Power wingman Jared Polec becomes the hero in similar hot finish.

Port Adelaide Jared Polec shows his exhaustion after the Power’s tense victory. (AAP Image/David Mariuz) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

• Port survives, but there are issues

JARED Polec can smile this time. And the Port Adelaide wingman can point to his team learning from the pain of last year’s heartbreak failure to protect a lead in the last seconds of the AFL elimination final against West Coast.

Polec last year conceded the high-tackle free kick that gave West Coast midfielder Luke Shuey the match-winning goal after the siren in extra time of the knockout final at Adelaide Oval.

Jared Polec under pressure from Brisbane’s Dayne Zorko Adelaide Oval on Saturday. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

On Saturday, Polec took the match-saving mark on the goal line of Brisbane midfielder Allen Christensen’s snap to protect Port Adelaide’s five-point lead with 78 seconds to play.

And Polec and his fellow stoppage players successfully dealt with two boundary throw-ins in the last 40 seconds in the same zone in the south-west corner of Adelaide Oval that became Port Adelaide’s graveyard against the Eagles.

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Polec says all three key plays came from a summer of hard revision at Alberton.

“That is what we take from this game in a very positive note,” Polec told the Sunday Mail. “After what happened last year (against West Coast) it is good that we had a lot more communication and direction.

“It shows the maturity of this group to cope with the heat in a close game. We’ve learned that lesson — and we’ve also shown we can implement the plan we have for that situation.”

Jared Polec and Travis Boak of the Power walk down to the change rooms after the win against Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

Of his mark of Christensen’s snap from the south-east pocket, Polec said: “I was a bit worried it was going to go over my head, but it just sat for me nicely at the end.

“Good line coverage ... I saw the goalsquare open, so I slid in there hoping (Christensen’s kick) would fall short. It did — and was fortunate enough to take that mark.”

Port Adelaide’s need to still be trying to win — rather than icing — the game so late in the last quarter does being into question the Power’s erratic form from quarter to quarter in the past fortnight.

“It is something we have to figure out,” Polec said of Port Adelaide’s lack of consistency in games. “I thought we came ready to play, particularly after a good week on the track. But Brisbane really took it to us.”