PORT ADELAIDE nearly surged its way back to an unlikely come-from-behind win against Fremantle on Sunday evening, riding its own purple patch of momentum in the fourth quarter to mount a serious comeback.

Five-goals-to-one in the final frame pulled the Power within single digits for the first time since early in the second quarter, but ultimately, it fell short of a remarkable comeback in Perth.

Port started well, slotting the first three goals of the game, but from then on until midway through the final quarter, it was all Fremantle, and senior coach Ken Hinkley didn’t shy away from his disappointment in letting the Dockers get the game on their terms.

“We made a great start, but Fremantle stepped up and got total control around the ball and controlled the shape of the ball a lot and put a bit of a gap on us,” Hinkley explained.

“We were able to score when we went forward, but we weren’t able to get enough ball in our front half.”

Hinkley was however proud of his side’s willingness to compete right until the final siren.

Despite facing a 40-point deficit late in the third term, Port’s charges stuck to task and came frustratingly close to pinching a memorable win if not for some poor execution in the dying stages.

“Certainly, in the last quarter I was proud,” Hinkley said. “We nearly could have won, couldn’t we? If you look at the game and shots that we had and the chances that we didn’t execute at the end.

“But when you put yourself that far behind, you don’t deserve to win.

“I thought they (the players) had a real crack. They stayed in the game and they didn’t give up. That’s a trait of our team.

“They’ve had a challenging season so far and again they found a way to just keep hanging in there and they had a bit of courage to finish off.”

Robbie Gray has made a name for himself winning games for the Power off of his own boot, while Todd Marshall has been one of the most accurate players in the entire AFL in 2022.

However, each spurned late chances to nudge their side closer to an upset.

“It’d be those two and no others I reckon,” said Hinkley of who he’d have handpicked to shoot at goal in the clutch.

“They’re great players. Todd this year in particularly and Robbie over the journey. Rob has won us that many games I’d be hypocritical (to blame him for the loss) when he misses one or two.

“I’m sure Rob would’ve felt like he wanted to (take on the responsibility to) kick it, and so would’ve Todd.

“Footy is tough and you’ve got to finish off when you get a chance. When you put yourself that far behind you have to make it count (in front of goal).

With stoppage mainstay Scott Lycett and mid-season draftee Brynn Teakle injured, and developing ruckman Sam Hayes ruled out through Covid protocols, it was again up to traditional forwards Charlie Dixon and Jeremy Finlayson to lead the ruck division.

Fremantle, boasting the might of man mountain Sean Darcy, won the hit-out (51-22) and clearance (47-30) battle, but Hinkley backed in the performance of his makeshift ruck brigade.

“I think Charlie could be an elite ruckman – I honestly believe that – but we know how good he can be for us as an All-Australian full-forward too,” Hinkley said.

“With the emergence of Todd it has allowed us to be flexible with being able to put Charlie in (the ruck) with Jeremy as well.

“We’ve had our hands tied with our ruck situation for a good period of time so we’ve had to work around that and we’ve worked around it pretty manfully.

“Charlie was really good. In turn I thought (Sean) Darcy was equally as good. When the game was put in Fremantle’s advantage, I thought he was possibly the best player on the ground.”

Xavier Duursma was a late withdrawal, replaced in the starting 22 by Miles Bergman thanks to a tight quad that “just didn’t get going” during the warm up, while Lachie Jones was substituted from the ground with a hamstring injury.

“We took the risk away (with Duursma),” explained Hinkley.

“When you’re playing on a Sunday night and it’s a quad and his kicking leg you can’t take the chance.

“Jones’ hamstring, without the scan I’m not going to be ‘Doctor Ken’ but I imagine it will be 3-4 weeks.”

The loss to Fremantle leaves Port needing to be practically perfect from its remaining seven games to remain a possibility of playing finals.

But Hinkley insists he and his players will continue to persist in their pursuit of September action.

“It’s incredibly tough from 0-5, but we stuck at it and we haven’t lost sight of what we’re doing,” he said.

“We won’t start that (straying from the task) today. Players will believe, and I will believe, that next week is the most important week for us and we’ve just got to keep ticking away.

“I think we’re in pretty reasonable form (since going 0-5), but we’re starting from a long way back.

“No reason for us to give up.”