Port Adelaide were let down by their senior players failing to step up consistently in their disappointing 12-point loss to Essendon, says coach Ken Hinkley.
The Power led for much of Thursday night's clash at Marvel Stadium but under-fire Essendon ran over them in the final quarter to win 9.18 (72) to 8.12 (60).
Skipper Connor Rozee and fellow midfielder Jason Horne-Francis were among those to have down nights, collecting just 22 disposals apiece and generally lacking impact.
"Essendon got a little sniff, and we know how they've been feeling, and they took that energy they got from that to really take control of the game," Hinkley said.
"The disappointing part of it is our key players, our better players, the ones who we needed to stand up, just weren't quite at that level all the way through the game.
"Collectively, our more senior players were a little bit down on us tonight, and they know that. They're mature enough now and know where they're at.
"You've just got to accept that they can't play great footy every week, but we had too many down together. I think that was the key to tonight.
"We always have some fluctuations. Unfortunately, tonight we had too many players together down, probably around the ball as much as anywhere."
Impressive Bombers midfielder Sam Durham kept Rozee to just 12 disposals across the opening three quarters while collecting 21 himself.
"Connor's been so good for us so far this year, and I'm sure he would be the first to say tonight's performance wasn't what he would've hoped he would deliver for us, so you give the points to Durham," Hinkley said.
Port are still without star midfielder Zak Butters (knee), plus Jack Lukosius (knee), Ryan Burton (hip), Lachie Jones (adductor) and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (back), while Todd Marshall (achilles) is sidelined long-term.
But Hinkley noted his charges (1-2) needed to get going, starting with next Sunday's clash against St Kilda at Adelaide Oval, when Butters is considered an outside chance to return.
"Our form's not where it needs to be, that's fact," Hinkley said.
"We've played one solid game against a younger team in Richmond last week.
"We're still getting ourselves going. We need to really quicken that up as quick as we can.
"AFL seasons are tough. You don't always have the whole season go exactly the way you want. We need to make sure we get ourselves back on track and back into the competition."
