PORT ADELAIDE forward Charlie Dixon has admitted his side needs to be more aggressive early in games after consecutive losses, but he has reminded supporters they’re not out of the premiership race just yet.

The Power went down by 22 points to Greater Western Sydney on Sunday after losing narrowly to Fremantle a week earlier.

Against the Giants, Port trailed by as much as 34 points in the third quarter after a slow start but responded to close to within nine points in the final term.

“We’ve just started really bad the last few weeks,” Dixon told Jars and Louie on Adelaide radio station Triple M.

“It’s our contested footy where we’ve let us go but then when we have to dig in we do, but we can’t maintain that.

“We’ve got to have a look at some areas and basically reassess and try to move forward.”

Dixon played much of the first half in the ruck in the absence of All-Australian Paddy Ryder but moved forward to great effect in the second half, booting three goals and providing an imposing presence.

He said the Giants got the early jump, and his side had no excuse for not being able to go with them.

“They’re hard to stop when they’ve got that run, they’ve got that many quick skilful players,” he said.

“They jumped us and there’s no excuse really. Our best football is second to none really – well that’s what we think - and we’ve got to be able to start better and be more physical and more aggressive and just try and maintain that throughout a game.

“We haven’t been able to do that at all and it’s quite frustrating.

“We’re frustrated as a team, the coaches are as well and our skills have let us down massively in the last three or four weeks and we’ve got to sort that out because it’s coming into crunch time.”

The 200-centimetre big man urged supporters to stick with the Power, reminding them that his side was well placed in fifth on the ladder with 11 wins, and only two wins off top.

Dixon said his team was trying to be the best it could and was working hard to improve.

“We’re out there trying to play our style and it’s breaking down in some areas but we’re working tirelessly to try and get that back and sort that out,” he said.

“No one goes out there to be bad or to not try.

“We want to be better for (the fans) because they show up and they’re unreal and they’re so loud at our home games, and even our away games we get a lot of numbers there and I thank them for that.

“But we’re still in this, we’re not out of it, it’s a tough season and we get to that point – it’s Round 19 and you think ‘Round 19, far out’.

“It goes really quick but it is a long and battling season and we’re hanging in there, we’ll bounce back, don’t worry about that.”

One positive to come from the GWS game was the composed debut of mature-age rookie Jarrod Lienert who looked comfortable and showed off his long kicking when setting up a goal for Dixon in the third quarter.

“He was unreal,” Dixon said.

“To come in and be as composed as he was and be able to use the ball as well as he did I thought was really good.

“He stood up when he needed to and he’s exciting, he’s a talent.”

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