PORT Adelaide departed Etihad Stadium with a 75-point loss on the scoreboard, but Dom Cassisi was heartened by how his team was able to take it up to Collingwood for long periods of the game.

After a bright start, a second quarter lapse proved costly for Port as the Pies skipped out to a 58-point lead, but the Power put on a stirring rally to make it a 16-point game midway through the third term.

However a late Pies' onslaught left the Power skipper looking for positives.

"The final score is quite disappointing when you look at it, but we showed that when we play with the right intensity and stick to our structures then we can mix it with the best," Cassisi said.

"We'll take some confidence from that third quarter which was really good. It's a great lesson for all of our guys just about the type of level that we need to get to.

"We played good footy in patches, but the great teams play footy for four quarters.

"I thought the three guys who debuted today also showed something which is another positive."

Jarrad Irons, Cameron O'Shea and Jasper Pittard all showed glimpses of a bright future during the match especially during the third quarter when the whole team lifted.

"We were able to score goals quite quickly so we need to look back at that, learn from it and then work on sustaining it for the whole match," Cassisi said.

"They weathered the storm and then they hit back hard, but it's a great learning curve for our guys and it's good to be able to do it in round one.

"We understand that we have quite a young team, which is no excuse, but we've just to really stay positive and keep trying to improve. That's where we're at.

"In the end the scoreboard was really disappointing, but I'm sure we can take some positives out of certain parts of the game."