Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is taking a glass half-full view of a two-point loss to Collingwood, admitting the epic contest confirmed his side are on a path to premiership contention.
Port controlled large portions and led for much of Saturday night’s instant classic at the Adelaide Oval, only to fall victim to another late Magpie charge as they coughed up a 17-point three-quarter-time lead.
They remain second on the ladder and look a great chance to play at home in the first week of finals, with Hinkley suggesting both sides would leave the game more confident in their process.
“How could you not sit and look at it glass half-full?” he said.
“That's an outstanding game of football, and yeah, we lost and we lost at home and they will take a bit out of that ... but we're pretty young.
“We've got a fair bit of growth, and if you didn't look at some of the stuff that we did out there tonight with great optimism, you're not wanting to.
“I'm bitterly disappointed and the team's bitterly disappointed with a small margin loss, but we'll learn a fair bit, I reckon.
“We get as much confirmation as Collingwood did, I would imagine.”
It’s the first time the Power have lost a close game this season, having won five games by seven points or fewer before being toppled by the fourth-quarter specialists.
Hinkley identified that as one area they would clearly need to improve to challenge for a flag, having made some sloppy decisions with ball-in-hand late in the piece to give Collingwood a sniff.
“They go hard and they don't give you a chance at times to get territory,” he said.
“We gave them some ball in bad spots, that's what we will learn a little bit from.
“When you play the best teams in the competition, if you give them that they make you pay and they went forward and kicked some amazing goals.”
Small forward Willie Rioli could be in trouble with the match review officer for an open-hand slap on Nathan Murphy in the final quarter that left the Collingwood defender floored.
Rioli’s strike wasn’t overly forceful and Hinkley said he believed there was nothing in the incident when asked about it in his press conference.
