Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is remaining hopeful of playing a meaningful part in 2025 after a fourth consecutive loss sees the club slump to 15th on the ladder.
The difficult task of taking on Fremantle at Optus Stadium always loomed as a challenge, but after a positive first half, the Power, like they've done in the past month, failed to maintain the rage and ultimately wilted at a moment's notice.
Hinkley's men are the only side that hasn't won a fourth quarter this season.
"I thought initially we were in the contest for a half, which is probably what we've been most of the last three or four weeks," Hinkley said.
"And then when we fall away, we fall away quickly.
"It's a fair bit of confidence in the way we're doing things and the way we're using the ball or not using the ball, and the way we're defending without the ball.
"I think we're half a step off because we don't want to make too many mistakes, and in turn, that's making us look like making a lot of mistakes."
Port Adelaide is without a host of first-string players, such as Jason Horne-Francis (hamstring), Jack Lukosius (knee), Kane Farrell (knee), Todd Marshall (Achilles), Josh Sinn (concussion) and Lachie Jones (hamstring).
Hinkley has also had absent key defenders and forwards at times, resulting in him relying on 35 players to date, the most of any team in the competition.
But the poor result undoubtedly puts the club's succession plan heavily into focus, and when Josh Carr should take over as coach.
"We're in the business of trying to win every game," he said.
"We had eight boys play that are contracted AFL players in our SANFL team today, so there's not a lot more left.
"So, until we start to get some of them come back in, that will certainly help us a fair bit.
"But the reality is, we're not in the conceding basket. We're in the let's see what we can do to rectify this and give ourselves a chance in whatever the games that are there are available for us for the back half of the year that we challenge ourselves to be better than we have in the first half."
Entering the second half of the campaign, and the mid-season byes, Port Adelaide will need to be near perfect in their final 12 games of the year, with pundits tipping 13 victories places any side in finals contention.
The Power have the week off next week before taking on GWS in Round 13.
