THEY never, ever gave up.

But they also fell agonisingly short, by three points to a resurgent Carlton at the MCG to prove yet again that "catch-up football" is the toughest game of all to play.

Down by 50 points as time was almost done in the second term, Port Adelaide set up the prospect of a date-appropriate football miracle on Easter Sunday with a six-goal third term - and a nine-goal second half that changed the entire tone of this game.

Almost everything that was wrong with Port Adelaide in the first half dramatically changed during the third and last terms. The midfield was assertive after coach Ken Hinkley threw the challenge to first-round draftees Zak Butters and Connor Rozee to prove themselves. The attack became vibrant - and productive on the scoreboard. And the defence was protected.

They simply never gave up. And they will need that spirit to hold if Port Adelaide is to change the storyline - and consequences - of the harrowing 0-5 win-loss count that marks the club's worst start to an AFL season.

An hour after the game had seemed locked away by an assertive Carlton holding a 49-point lead at half-time, midfielder Karl Amon was left with the chance for a miraculous victory. But that last-minute set shot from 52 metres only highlighted just how close but also how far Port Adelaide came to ending its losing streak.

Carlton managed just two goals in the second half - and only one in the last term when key forward Charlie Curnow scored his fifth of the match to take the lead to nine points in the 19th minute.

Seven minutes earlier, Port Adelaide forward specialist Robbie Gray had reduced the margin to two points. With 3:30 left on the clock, Port Adelaide key forward Mitch Georgiades had made it three points.

The turnaround in Port Adelaide's play was quite extraordinary. So was the resilience and determination to not roll over when all seemed lost.  

Scoring had been a chore for Port Adelaide in the first half. For the fourth time in five AFL home-and-away games this season, Port Adelaide had just five goals or less at half-time - this time four while Carlton had 12.

But scoring became the reward for hard work after half-time, particularly for the Port Adelaide midfielders who rediscovered how to strip the ball from their Carlton opponents and to lock the play in the Port Adelaide forward half.

There were five goalkickers in that third term of Port Adelaide defiance, starting with the brash ways of Sam Powell-Pepper, followed by Butters, two from 100-game player and far-roaming defender Ryan Burton, Travis Boak and Rozee. It would have been six - and a 10-point margin - had Gray converted from a free kick rather than put the ball out-of-bounds on the full on the siren.

All six goals were created by forward-half plays, easing the pressure on the Port Adelaide defenders who would have appreciated the way their team-mates had rediscovered the powerful theme of "team defence".

Port Adelaide will again lament missed opportunities. Gray's goal in the 13th minute of the fourth term - that reduced the margin to two points - followed a hectic run of four unanswered scoring sorties by Port Adelaide. But only 1.3 was put on the scoreboard while Gray missed and Steven Motlop missed twice before the sequence was broken by Powell-Pepper.

Defending was more certain during the second half when Port Adelaide rebuilt its wall of "team defence". Even with the return of All-Australian key defender Aliir Aliir - who was compelled to lock down on a Carlton key forward rather than patrol territory to become a roadblock with his trademark intercept marks - the Port Adelaide defence was cut open too often with quick and direct movement during the first half.

Port Adelaide's midfield - deprived of Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines - might be closer to finding more than one "next-generation" star to ease the burden on former captain Travis Boak.

The challenge to step up certainly was put on the shoulders of Butters and Rozee during the second half after Carlton had gained so much from its young sensation Sam Walsh. Butters finished with 32 touches and won six clearances; Rozee had 24 and two and showed his work ethic with six tackles. Both young midfielders put goals on the scoring sheet.

On a day when the Port Adelaide midfield needed to also support a first-game ruckman, the numbers were heavily loaded in Carlton's favour at half-time - and read better at full-time when Port Adelaide was 11-17 down on centre clearances and winning 22-21 elsewhere on the field.

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Port Adelaide returned to the three talls of Todd Marshall, Mitch Georgiades and Jeremy Finlayson in attack for the third time this season. Finlayson finally has his first goal in Port Adelaide colours after moving from Greater Western Sydney during the recent trade period and finished with 1.2 and notably took eight marks. Georgiades scored two goals.

Carlton gained eight goals from its key forward pairing of Coleman Medallist Harry McKay (3.1) and Charlie Curnow (5.1) who were blessed with assertive supply during the first half. Carlton built a 25-point lead off six goals at quarter-time and another six in the second term to almost double the lead to 49 points.

Port Adelaide had to wait until the start of the third term to get a run of unanswered goals - from Powell-Pepper and Butters.

The contrast in the movement to forwards marked the difference between the two teams at half-time.  Carlton had reason to work quickly into attack. There was the strong presence of go-to targets in Curnow and McKay, who first drew Aliir into a heavy one-on-one duel; and the opportunist Jack Martin with his two goals in the opening term and three score assists.

Sam Hayes' AFL debut as Port Adelaide's lead ruck began with the first touch from a centre bounce that heavily favoured him. Whatever surprise there was from the ball not being recalled was quickly overtaken by the holding-the-ball call on Port Adelaide midfielder Willem Drew after he ran onto Hayes' tap.

Called into the AFL line-up by the loss of experienced ruck Scott Lycett (shoulder surgery), Hayes finished the demanding assignment against Carlton’s Marc Pittonet with 20 hit-outs and five disposals.

Port Adelaide's injury woes continued to leave the impression of a team that is cursed - this time with captain Tom Jonas with a right-knee injury that forced him off the field for tests late in the second term. He returned after half-time with the right knee strapped and saw out the game.

CARLTON v PORT ADELAIDE

PORT ADELAIDE          2.3       4.5     10.9    13.13 (91)

CARLTON                       6.4    12.4     13.8    14.10 (94)

BEST - Port Adelaide: Burton, Butters, Rozee, Houston, Gray, Powell-Pepper.

GOALS - Port Adelaide: Gray 3, Burton, Georgiades, Powell-Pepper 2, Boak, Butters, Finlayson, Rozee.

MEDICAL SUBSTITUTE: Jed McEntee (not activated).

CROWD: 33,433 at the MCG

NEXT: v West Coast at Adelaide Oval, Saturday 4.05pm