Horne-Francis admits fired-up Power group felt “dismissed” by Ginnivan's cheeky comments

Port Adelaide midfielder Jason Horne-Francis admits that Jack Ginnivan’s comments in the lead-up to the Semi Final against Hawthorn did indeed fire up the group.

Replying to a Brodie Grundy Instagram story, Ginnivan cheekily wrote “see you in 14 days”, implying they would beat the Power and make a Preliminary Final to take on Sydney.

The young Power midfielder says they felt “dismissed” by the comments and used it as motivation against the Hawks.

“I think for us, Jack said what he said throughout the week and it did probably fire us boys up a bit and maybe a few of the coaches as well, but I think for us we don’t like being dismissed and we finished second on the ladder and got the double chance for a reason,” Horne-Francis told SEN’s Sportsday SA.

“We just thought with that comment that he dismissed us a little bit, which we didn’t like. I guess throughout the game there probably wasn’t much chat, it was just about getting to work and getting into a preliminary final, that was the goal.”

Port Adelaide got off to a strong start, ultimately setting up their narrow victory and the young midfielder believes the Ken Hinkley and the coaching group did a great job preparing for them for the match-up.

“I think the coaches did a really good job in planning our week. We were well prepared in what we needed to do to play good footy and stop the Hawks and I thought we executed it perfectly and brought some pressure to the game,” he said.

“Our contest work was unbelievable. It was good to get a four-quarter performance in.

“I thought we took their space and away and didn’t allow them to play their open footy and switch the footy like they wanted to play.”

Horne-Francis hobbled from the ground towards the end of the match, dealing with a quad issue in one leg and cramp in the other.

However, the 21-year-old says he has pulled up well.

“It was a bit unusual to cramp up late in the season. I guess there was a bit more game time, a bit more load, a bit more pressure and the nerves were high, that could be the case,” he said.

“I’ve recovered well and feel good for this week.”

The Power will be hoping their recent form against Sydney holds up when they met on Friday night at the SCG.