PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has rated his side’s win over Essendon as its best performance in weeks because it was good for all four quarters.

Port trailed narrowly at the first change but piled on ten of the next twelve goals to run out 50-point winners on a wet night at Adelaide Oval.

Hinkley said he was pleased to see his side fire heading into finals.

“I thought tonight was pretty strong, I thought it was as good as we’ve been for a little while,” He said in his post-match press conference.

“We’ve played some good parts of footy, I thought even the first quarter tonight as much as we were down on the scoreboard, I thought we played the game the way we like to play it.

“They were able to kick a couple of goals which flattered the scoreboard a little bit and unfortunately for us, put us behind.

“Tonight was more of a four-quarter performance.

“I think we’ve been able to do what we did tonight reasonably well at times throughout the last three or four weeks and we just haven’t put it together for long periods.

“We’ve had a really good last month as far as preparation goes and I think we’re on track with all our planning and thoughts.”

The final margin could have been far greater had Port been less inaccurate.

At one stage it kicked seven consecutive behinds.

Hinkley was particularly pleased again with the efforts of his midfield group, particularly Travis Boak, Tom Rockliff and Ollie Wines, singling out the vice-captain for extra praise.

“They’ve been really good, they’ve been really consistent all throughout the year,” he said of the group, which contributed 85 possessions (Rockliff 31, Wines 28, Boak 26), 12 tackles (Rockliff six, Wines two, Boak four), eleven clearances and three goals.

“Ollie has been fantastic and Trav, a lot has been said about Trav, and Rock’s been great but I just really liked recognition for Ollie Wines. He thoroughly deserved the credit that he’s been given in the last couple of weeks, he’s been in great form.

“I’m just proud of him because everything hasn’t gone perfect for Ol and he’s had to fight through it the last 18 months to two years but he’s playing as good as I’ve seen him play in the last five or six weeks.”

With one game to come against Collingwood in nine-days’ time, Port has sown up a top-two spot, giving it a guaranteed two home finals.

It has held top spot since Round 1, back in March, and Hinkley said while the players deserved to be there, they were not allowing themselves to be distracted the immediate job of beating the Pies.

“The opportunity is there, it’s for us to capitalise on,” Hinkley said.

“We’ve still got another game to go and I’d like us to continue on with what we’re doing and continue to play another strong game next week because there’s nothing better than being in good form and sometimes it can be really hard.

“We’ve got a couple of things locked away and it can be a little distracting.

“I think the group showed tonight that they’re not getting distracted and they’re prepared to play every game on its merits.

“The scoreboard, ladder, outcomes that’s not what we chase – it’s about doing it together and we’ve done it pretty well.”

With no injuries reported out of the match, Hinkley’s side is very healthy.

The coach said all but two of his players were fit and pushing for selection.

“I think we just reward performance and form, regardless of numbers or names or opposition,” Hinkley said.

“We want to be us and us is the most important part.

“We’ve got a couple of people out at the moment, one through suspension and one through injury that we’d like in the team as well.”