Port Adelaide faced one of their harshest "reality checks" of the season following a thumping from Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.
The Pies - who trialled by 31 points in the first term - ran riot after quarter time, kicking 14 goals to six after the opening break, helping themselves to their third consecutive victory.
After a disappointing display against the reigning premiers, Power coach Ken Hinkley laments the opportunity missed while identifying that his midfield - consisting of young stars Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis - has been down in the past fortnight.
Zak Butters launches and the Power are on the board! โก#AFLPiesPower pic.twitter.com/WpsP3mdUYs
— AFL (@AFL) April 20, 2024
โOur last two weeks would suggest that's perhaps not quite as accurate as we would like it to be,โ Hinkley said post-match.
โWe think we have got a very good midfield group, but in the last two weeks, we haven't been at the level we need.
โWe have been in (good) patches ... but then after quarter-time, we got showed up by Collingwood.
โIt's a stat we have to live with. It's hard to hide from that one.
โIt's concerning for today. It's not consistent with what we've been ... we get a reality check that there's a gap that we're chasing still.โ
Following a hot start, kicking six of the first seven goals, Hinkley's men were nowhere to be seen as they failed to halt the Collingwood stampede.
โThose (contested possession) numbers pretty much work into work rate and contest and I think that would be fair,โ Hinkley said.
โI'm not going to hide from it. Collingwood was much better at turning up more reliably, more consistently and in the contest they were more predictable.
โThey were playing aggressive and they continue to play aggressive, but what they did when they played aggressive was continue to turn up and that makes it much easier for them to play their style of football which is pretty powerful.โ
Appearing to hurt his hamstring late in the piece, Hinkley put Power fans at ease that Horne-Francis, believed it was just a "cramp".
โHe's okay, we think,โ Ken Hinkley said.
โHe came off with a bit of cramp at the end. He should be Okay, but I'm always nervous about predicting stuff at this time of the day.
โI think he's fine."
News wasn't so good for teammate Lachie Jones, who will be sent for scans on his suspected hamstring injury, while the club sweats on Miles Bergman's rolled ankle.
"I'm always nervous about predicting this sort of stuff at the end of the day.
"I think he's fine, I think Lachie Jones had a bit of a hamstring issue he'll get scanned on. He's got a history around that so he couldn't quite get to the power he needed to get back on so we didn't take that unnecessary risk.
"I think Bergman rolled his ankle late in the game but I would hope that's pretty reasonable."
