Port Adelaide will enter its bye off the back of its weakest performance of the year, going down to Carlton by 34 points at Adelaide Oval.
The Power have four losses by less than a goal, so the 3-8 record does not accurately reflect their competitiveness this season, but there were concerning signs against the Blues.
“The start of the game, the first quarter, the unpredictability around our ball movement at the moment, some turnovers that are hard to defend and the way our offence co-exists with our defence and working together (was concerning),” coach Josh Carr said.
“We didn't defend the ground well and our ball movement, if you look at the season until now, we have dropped off a little bit and this is a little bit like the North Melbourne game (in Round 1), a bad performance…that first half wasn't what we expect.”
Carr was seen particularly animated at half-time when the club trailed by 35 poimts and indicated he put the acid on the experienced players beyond star duo Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis to stand up.
“At the moment, we're waiting for our leaders to stand up – Zak to do his thing or (Jason Horne-Francis) to get going rather than own it ourselves as a group,” Carr said.
“That's experience in some ways for the young guys – closing the gap between what our bad looks like and what our good looks like.
“It's up for everyone. When we have a meeting, we have to own the discussion and players have to take leadership at the right time because they're the ones who are on the field so when they're under pressure they have to be able to lean on each other.”
There are some broader positives the Power can take from the first half of the season, with Joe Berry, Christian Moraes, Ewan Mackinlay and Josh Lai all showing promise at different times, which Carr highlighted.
"(We need to) get some predictability around the way that we play, starting with our ball movement. That helps also the way we defend and it's hurting us, and it hurt us tonight," he said.
"You get to go into the bye and reset and that's what we'll do.
"We'll reset. We'll have a look at all of our game and keep working at it.
"There's some positives in and around the group, the young guys who have played in the first half of the year. It's important that they keep trying to get better."
