"I am expecting us to be a side that takes lots of risks but will make mistakes, especially early in the season," he said at the time.

"I am expecting we develop and become much stronger middle-to-late year."

Sharp's wise words ring true after the Tigers' first four Hampden league rounds.

Portland started with a eye-catching draw against North Warrnambool Eagles but have since suffered heavy losses to Port Fairy (79 points), Hamilton Kangaroos (37) and South Warrnambool (71 points).

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"You can expect us to be inconsistent for the first half of the year until we find our feet," he said ahead of round five.

"There's going to be games played on emotion. We were up and about when we drew with a very good side in North Warrnambool and the next week we turned around and got smashed.

"There's a lot of work to be done to be up with the top couple of sides in the league."

The Tigers' task gets steeper on Saturday - reigning premier Koroit on the rebound from a rare loss.

"In my opinion you want to get the most out of every single game," Sharp said ahead of the clash.

"Playing opposition, there's always something you can learn.

"Last time we played Koroit they used the ball and spread well and worked really hard.

"You have to be prepared to work hard and bust your gut otherwise you don't win those games."

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