DEFENDER Jack Hombsch says Port Adelaide will need to focus on playing more consistent, four-quarter football as it looks to improve on its disappointing weekend result.

Going down to the West Coast Eagles by 10 points, the backman said the boys were outplayed by a side showing more consistency and discipline.

“We just didn’t play consistent, four-quarter footy, and to West Coast’s credit, they did,” Hombsch told media on Monday.

“We started off ok, but we just couldn’t contain it and they ran over us.

“There’s no lack of effort – we’re trying hard…but on the weekend West Coast just outplayed us and we didn’t get it right.”

Both coach Ken Hinkley and Hombsch said facing the Eagles off the back of a blockbuster Showdown win didn’t impact their mentality heading into the game.

Rather, the team’s inability to capitalise on turnovers and lack of defensive pressure in the third term caused were the defining factors.

With an inside 50 count of 47 to 54, the Power remained on the back foot in creating scoring opportunities in the Round 6 clash.

“We pride ourselves on our team defence and that’s probably not where it needs to be at the moment, and that’s what we know wins games for us…if you’re having that many inside 50s against you it’s really hard to win games of footy,” he said.

“If we can lock the ball in our forward half and keep it there, they’re not going to get as many repeat entries obviously – so that’s where it’s falling apart a little bit.”

Entering as underdogs and finishing up in a nail-biting preliminary final last year, Hombsch conceded expectations upon the Power have shifted since 2014.

And with higher expectations comes a no-excuses attitude towards the game and an ongoing commitment to improvement.

“The competition is really even this year and you can see from the results from a lot of other games, if you don’t bring your ‘A’ game, any team can beat you,” Hombsch said.

“The beauty about the competition is that you’ve always got next week to redeem yourself and it’s still early in the year, so no panic stations yet.

“We’re three and three, and obviously we’re disappointed we lost, but we’ve got a good chance to redeem ourselves against Brisbane and there’s still a long season ahead of us.”