North Adelaide almost doubled the Magpies' clearances (26-43) and won eight more inside-50s, leading Hocking to admit that the sixth-placed Roosters's desire to win led to his side's upset loss.
The sting of defeat was compounded by the Magpies being unable to deliver skipper Steven Summerton victory in his 150th game.
"We weren't winning stoppages... we did in the third quarter, but we didn't capitalise on it going forward and we were sloppy and had poor entry inside 50," Hocking said.
"We were just outworked and they (North Adelaide) fed off our errors - at the end it looked like they wanted to win more than us.
"But our captain had an 11-possession third quarter and kicked that goal right on the siren, so I thought we'd go on to win the game for him.
"But unfortunately North were stubborn and probably wanted it more at the end."
The upcoming split round affords Port Adelaide a bye this weekend and gives Hocking's men time an extended recovery ahead of the second SANFL 'Showdown' of the year.
That game will be played at Alberton Oval on Saturday 26 July.
"We had some underdone guys going into the game - Stewart was only three weeks off an injury, Moore [off] four weeks, we lost Flynn to an ankle briefly and Johansen had played a state carnival and he looked a bit tired at the end," Hocking said.
"But I don't want to give excuses, we put our hands up and played those guys knowing they'd be underdone ... we just couldn't get the ball on the outside as much as we would've liked to.
"We just kept trying to do too much with the ball and in the end turnovers really cost us."
Hocking knows the challenge posed by Adelaide's SANFL team, which will be hunting redemption against the Magpies after losing in Round 5 earlier in the year.
"It will be a big game against the Crows," Hocking said.
"We got them over in Clare, but they had a win against South Adelaide, so they will be tough to beat here."
