PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley says his side was badly beaten all over the ground by a “great” West Coast outfit in Perth on Saturday night.

In what was billed as its first real test of 2021, after comfortable wins over North Melbourne and Essendon to start the season, Port was left stunned after a blistering opening by the Eagles on their home ground.

West Coast led by as much as 58 points in the third quarter before Port Adelaide lifted its intensity around the contest. The final margin was 37 points.

Hinkley said his side allowed the Eagles to play the game on their terms in the first half.

“They brought real hunt to the contest, we were beaten badly around the contest in all areas of the ground and then we got some contest back in our game,” he said after the game.

“Credit to our guys we stuck at it and played out a reasonably solid second half, albeit we didn’t bring the hunt we wanted at the start and we knew the challenge of coming here.

“We’ve come here in the past, done it successfully and tonight we just weren’t able to put our stamp on the game early and they were, and that separated the two teams.”

Port trailed on the scoreboard by 52 points at half time and the stats sheet told the story.

It trailed 32-19 in inside 50s, 89-66 in contested possessions and 141-97 in uncontested possessions as the Eagles controlled the ball with their short chipping, high possession game.

Despite leading the hit-outs, Port also trailed in the clearances 23-13.

Hinkley said it came down to work rate.

“They’re an uncontested side, they control the ball well and this ground suits them,” he explained.

“Normally we’ve been able to defend the ball reasonably well but we’ve never taken all of their control away.

“The bigger battles are how they get control initially and they got control early on pretty easily.

“When you give them the ball without too much pressure, they’re going to be able feel comfortable, they’re going to be able to play a brand that they like the look of.”

When Port did win back the ball, Hinkley said his side “made some fundamental poor skill errors” and paid the price.

But Hinkley said the margin could have been far worse had it not been for his side’s second-half response, particularly on the ball by vice-captain Ollie Wines and the experienced Travis Boak.

“I take a lot from (the second-half),” Hinkley said. “It was the contested stuff that got us back in the game.

“People will say West Coast, did they stop, but I think they were out there trying as hard as they could like they did for the first half.

“We went down -23 contested ball in the first half but went up +4 in the second half.

“Our game is made on hunt and aggression and pressure on the ball and… when we do it well, we’re a pretty good side.

“I get some comfort out of the fact that we delivered in the second half when we could have really rolled over in the environment out there tonight.”

One positive was the return of young forwards Todd Marshall (three goals) and Mitch Georgiades (two goals), playing together along with fellow tall forwards Charlie Dixon and Peter Ladhams for the first time.

Hinkley’s side will now travel back home across the Nullarbor for a short turnaround before tackling reigning premier Richmond at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.

The Tigers themselves are coming off a disappointing loss to Sydney on Saturday and Hinkley said his side would embrace the challenge. 

“Last year we had two cracking games against them and I reckon it’ll be something similar next week. It’ll be another packed house at Adelaide Oval and we’ll need our absolute best around the contest and if we don’t deliver that, the same things can happen,” he said.

“They’ve been the premiers three out of the last four years. There’s no bigger game that you want to test yourself in.

“We failed tonight and we don’t want to fail twice.”