PORT ADELAIDE assistant coach Michael Voss has praised defender Hamish Hartlett for his courage during the loss to Geelong on Saturday night.

The 27-year-old was taken from the field in the opening minutes of the second quarter after a brutal head knock that resulted in a laceration above his left eye but courageously came back on after half time to finish as one of the Power’s best.

He had 23 possessions, nine marks, four rebound 50s and four inside 50s from just 62 per cent game time.

“To have a leader like him to be able to cop a blow like that and come back on the field makes others walk taller around him,” Voss said of Hartlett’s bravery.

“Amazing courage really, we thought we had lost him for the game but the report’s come back that it was merely a split head and he does have a tough head.

“He came back and some of the efforts he had post that were fantastic and he just led the way and he’s been like that the whole year really.”

Voss was less complimentary about the way the side played, admitting Port Adelaide supporters were right to be disappointed with the performance.

“We encourage passionate supporters,” he said.

“Port Adelaide fans and members, we want them to be passionate so we understand if they want to make comments about that, they’re entitled to but we have got to make sure the next performance we put out is a lot better.”

The midfield boss said the side improved its effort in the contest after a disappointing showing against Essendon last week but failed to capitalise on the scoreboard.

“It’s a very even competition and if you’re off just a little bit in a few areas and the game can go against you and right now we’re just not getting the right things often enough,” Voss said.

“Everyone is talking about how even the competition is and what the actual ladder looks like right now and to think that every week you walk out and get the game on your terms is disrespecting the competition.

“I think in general the team had huge effort, it was a very taxing game physically but we walk away with Geelong getting it more right and we don’t walk away with four points,” Voss said.

“We still realise we have to improve and we’ve sort of fallen away from our game in the last few weeks so we just have to make sure that we train that, get it right and we face North this week and try to get it right.”

Voss was also quick to defend the club’s new recruits Jack Watts, Steven Motlop, Tom Rockliff and Lindsay Thomas after they had attracted scrutiny externally after the loss.

“It’s just not enough a sample size,” Voss said.

“We know what we’ve got them here for and we don’t play a short game with these things, it’s a long game we play and they remain critically important players for us.

“We heard a lot of comments about how important they were for us in the first two weeks as well and that’s changed so we don’t live in that space, we know the performance we want from those guys but I think as a collective we’ve got to improve in a couple of areas.

“I think we’ve got a large portion of our group that needs to improve but to single out, I think that’s largely premature.”

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