"IF," Russell Ebert would say, "is the smallest word in football - but it means a helluva lot."

You will hear a lot of statements starting with "if" in the post-mortems of this Port Adelaide-Hawthorn clash that unexpectedly tested the patience of everyone connected with Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

If only ...

The round two clash dedicated to Ebert, Port Adelaide's greatest player who died in November, ended with a shock 64-point defeat to Hawthorn that is in a refit with a new coach, Sam Mitchell.

Port Adelaide is 0-2 for the first time since 2015 (when the season began with a similar storyline).

The result is not befitting the memory of Ebert. So the Port Adelaide players kept in the line-up for Friday night's Showdown are compelled to respond- just as Ebert did after taking issue with his team's disastrous performance in the 1976 SANFL grand final.

For two quarters - the first and the last - Port Adelaide did not score a goal but posted a combined 0.7 while conceding 8.4.

If only the new-style Port Adelaide attack could have capitalised - particularly with marks inside-50 - as Hawthorn did while pin-pointing plays to the old and the new, Jack Gunston and Mitch Lewis who kicked four goals in the third term.

Hawthorn finished with 12 marks inside-50; Port Adelaide, nine. It is the most notable statistic of the night. So is the efficiency the Hawthorn forwards put on the scoreboard.

Every other statistic that favoured Port Adelaide - even contested possession, won 148-140 - means nothing this time. Even the advantage on inside-50s (58-46) is meaningless because the real key performance indicator was Hawthorn's remarkable accuracy and efficiency that translated to 19.6 on the scoreboard.

Hawthorn finished with 13 goals from 13 set shots (100 per cent conversion and efficiency), Port Adelaide again finished a match with more behinds (14) than goals (seven).

The new combination of go-to forwards in the Port Adelaide attack - Jeremy Finlayson, Mitch Georgiades and Todd Marshall - finished with a combined score of 0.5. Hawthorn gained eight goals from Lewis (five) and Gunston (three).

The eagerness to see All-Australian key forward Charlie Dixon restored to the Port Adelaide goalfront, after missing the opening two games while recuperating from ankle surgery, will only increase this week.

Port Adelaide's most-effective forward was Sam Powell-Pepper, the man determined to make up for lost ground from last season. His three goals in the third term were a small highlight in a match of few memorable moments for Port Adelaide.

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If only Port Adelaide had followed up the spirit shown in the season-opener against Brisbane at the Gabba seven days earlier with some polish in their ballwork and movement to the goalfront. If only ...

If there was hope after Port Adelaide had managed a three-goal run - from Connor Rozee,  Powell-Pepper and Steven Motlop early in the third term - to get the margin back to 20 points, it was all gone with Hawthorn's quick and assertive response. The unbroken run of four goals - two from Lewis and one each from Gunston and Josh Ward - put Hawthorn 44 points in front at time-on of the third quarter when Port Adelaide had scored just 38 (5.8).

As a player or a coach or as a media commentator, Ebert never lost that earthy way of cutting through layers and layers of the meaningless. At half-time, the key performance indicators were all in Port Adelaide's favour. The barometer of contested possessions was up by 14 (75-61); clearances was up by nine (26-16 and 6-5 in the centre) - and Port Adelaide had the ball a significant 70 times more (221-150) than Hawthorn.

The statistical advantages were still there at three quarter-time when Hawthorn led by 36 points. Port Adelaide was leading the disposal count by 63; clearances by 19; contested possessions by eight ... and the inside-50 counter by five. Statistics.

"Quality not quantity," Ebert would say behind the microphone while looking at the only figures that counted, those on the scoreboard.

For all this dominance on the statistical sheets, the new-look Port Adelaide attack delivered to half-time just 3.6 from 25 inside-50 entries - and the defence, without the intercept power marking of All-Australian Aliir Aliir, had conceded 8.4 to allow Hawthorn to lead by 28 points. Tellingly in Aliir's absence by injury, Hawthorn could secure more marks inside-50 than Port Adelaide - and produce more goals from even the most demanding opportunities, as noted with Jack Gunston's goal from the south-east boundary late in the second term.

By contrast, none of Port Adelaide's key forwards had a goal at half-time. Finlayson had hit a post; Georgiades had two misses. None of Finlayson, Georgiades and Marshall had a goal by full time.

Back on the agenda will be Port Adelaide's starts - not so much slow, but without a meaningful return on the scoreboard. Hawthorn's defence certainly picked off Port Adelaide's inside-50 sorties in the first term when the home team's 0.3 scoreline was a poor return for 13 entries to the forward arc.

The last time Port Adelaide was without a goal in the first term? May 23 last year - at the MCG with 0.1 against Collingwood. And before that on May 3, 2019 - at the Docklands in west Melbourne also against Collingwood. It was 0.3 at quarter-time then as well.

After a run of five behinds - that included Finlayson hitting a post in the first term - the goal drought was broken in the fifth minute of the second term with an unorthodox approach from lead ruckman Scott Lycett at the northern end. He slid boots first onto a loose ball (in a way that would put him on a plane to Saudi Arabia with the Socceroos squad for this week's World Cup qualifiers).  

Hawthorn's 17-point lead came with two 50-metre penalties to the goalfront - and a most-questionable non-call by the field umpire watching Hawthorn forward Chad Wingard push out Trent McKenzie in a marking contest before converting a set shot at goal in the 11th minute.

Port Adelaide started both of its new players - former Brisbane key position player Sam Skinner in defence and No. 12 draftee Josh Sinn on a wing. Skinner's first AFL game since round 10, 2020 (with Brisbane) became more challenging during the second half when Port Adelaide lost fellow key defender Trent McKenzie with an ankle injury. Sinn finished his first AFL match with 11 disposals (five kicks and six handpasses).

PORT ADELAIDE v HAWTHORN

PORT ADELAIDE   0.3    3.6     7.10   7.14 (56)

HAWTHORN         3.2     8.4    14.4   19.6 (120)

BEST - Port Adelaide: Boak, Powell-Pepper, Butters, Wines, Amon.

SCORERS - Port Adelaide: Powell-Pepper 3, Houston, Lycett, Motlop, Rozee.

INJURY - McKenzie (ankle).

MEDICAL SUBSTITUTE: Jackson Mead (activated in third term for McKenzie).

CROWD: 30,267 at Adelaide Oval.

NEXT: Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, Friday, 7.50pm.