Saturday’s loss to North Melbourne saw Port Adelaide allow its opponent a sizeable first-quarter lead for the third time in four rounds.
However, the Kangaroos game was the first time that the Power didn’t overcome such a margin.
“Training intensity from the start of training is something that we’re going to focus on this week”, Carlile said.
“We’d obviously like to be 10 goals up at three-quarter time and go into the last quarter with a bit of a lead, but that hasn’t been the case.”
Carlile added that improving first quarter returns are not the sole focus of the playing group.
“There are other aspects of the game that we need to work on, like stoppages and stuff like that.”
He said that Ken Hinkley’s absence from the coaches’ box on Saturday, when he remained in Adelaide recovering from a virus, had little impact on the playing group.
“No one really noticed it to be honest,” he said
“He’s obviously a different personality to Richo but we just wanted to go about our business like we normally do.
“Richo did a great job on game day and the days leading up to it - I couldn’t fault it.”
Port Adelaide takes on ninth-placed Richmond this Saturday at AAMI Stadium in a crucial game, and Carlile did not underestimate the difficulty of the assignment.
“They’ve been really good, the way they move the ball is as good as anyone in the competition,” Carlile said.
“They’ve got some really dangerous players: Deledio, Cotchin, you name it, they’ve got it.
“We’re going to have to be on the ball from the get-go this week.”
But motivation won’t be an issue for Carlile or his teammates.
“It was mentioned that good teams don’t lose two games in a row, and we want to be one of those good teams that get talked about.”
“So, two games in a row we just don’t want to lose. It’s something we have a massive focus on this week.”
