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WHAT can a coach do when his leaders are out injured and he is facing the defending premier at its home ground?
 
Exactly what Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus did on Sunday against Geelong: ask for effort across the board and, to some extent, hope for the best.
 
His team ended with a 38-point loss after Geelong put the foot down early in the last quarter and stretched Port's 19-point, three-quarter time deficit beyond reach.
 
He could not question the effort. But he did bemoan the mistakes.
 
"[We] do some things that just shoot ourselves in the foot too that give the opposition some easy goals which makes it a lot harder for ourselves," Primus said.

[ Related: Match report ]
 
His demeanour after the game was even but his words did not display any sense of relief or even honour in the loss.
 
"We're certainly not happy with that," Primus said.
 
He said the absence of the leadership group was just a fact of life. While the injury situation did not make life easy for anyone it was not something Port was leaning upon as an excuse.
 
"We still had a pretty mature team out there and some experienced guys out there," Primus said.
 
The positives were obvious. They won the clearance count, led the tackle numbers and were competitive around the contested ball.

[ Watch: Match highlights ]

But it was the uncontested areas, outside the congestion, where Port Adelaide struggled. It had 37 inside 50s to Geelong's 63 and conceded 74 uncontested marks. It did not take a mark on the lead either.
 
"[I was] happy with what they did in patches but certainly not satisfied with what we did for the whole game," Primus said. "Until we get to that level, we won't find ourselves up the ladder."
 
He said only time would tell how valuable the experience was for the young players exposed to a quality opponent such as Geelong. He did compliment rookie Tom Jonas for his effort in keeping Steve Johnson relatively quiet. Jonas was playing his first game for the season and Johnson kicked just one goal and had 15 possessions.
 
Defender Troy Chaplin said the performance of the young players was promising but the club remained disappointed with the result.
 
"We came over here wanting to win the game and thought internally we could really take it up to Geelong," Chaplin said. "I thought we did that for three and a half quarters."

[ Related: Match stats ]
 
John McCarthy said they made too many crucial mistakes but was heartened to some extent.

"[There are] definitely some positives to take out of the game but we don't want to accept mediocrity. We wanted to win and 18 points down at three quarter time it was probably possible," he said.

"It was annoying we could not come up with the four points but it was a good effort by a young side."
 
Now Primus faces a Showdown against Adelaide with little hope of any of his leaders returning.

He rated star on-baller Travis Boak only a 70 per cent chance of playing. Boak has been missing since round 10 with a foot injury.
 
Boak was in the rooms at the end of the game but Primus said could give no further news on whether or not the midfielder - who grew up in Torquay on Geelong's surf coast - would re-sign with the club.
 
"No, nothing at the moment," said Primus when asked if he had an update.