PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has made one major vow - his team will chase an AFL finals berth until the door shuts on the top eight. And even then, Hinkley wants to keep knocking by scoring telling wins.

“It’s not to hard for us (to set an agenda for the rest of the season),” said Hinkley after the 12-point loss to league leader Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Saturday evening left Port Adelaide needing to win all of its four remaining home-and-away matches to stay in the mix for September’s AFL finals.

“And not too hard for me. The reality is, (qualifying for finals) might be taken out of our hands. But it won’t be because we aren’t fully focused on Collingwood next week to give ourselves whatever chance we can get.

“We will stay in the contest for as long as we possibly can. And even then, if we miss out, I expect we would play the right way. We will turn up at the MCG next week ready to go and give ourselves a chance.

“That is what we have done all year. We did not get distracted early in the year (by the 0-5 start) when we could have. We went to being singularly focused on the next game. We have done that all year. We are going to stay in that moment. We are going to play this week at our best for four quarters - that is plan we have to start the week.

“We want to be better than we were tonight.”

Port Adelaide is 8-10 - six premiership points behind eighth-ranked Richmond at the end of the match against Geelong with four home-and-away games to play.

It has Collingwood (MCG), Richmond (Adelaide Oval), Essendon (at the Docklands in Melbourne) and Adelaide at Adelaide Oval to complete the home-and-away series.

Port Adelaide finished the match against Geelong with half-back Dan Houston to be ruled out of the clash with finals-bound Collingwood by the concussion protocols. Hinkley expects Dixon, fellow forward Mitch Georgiades and midfielder Zak Butters to be available for AFL selection this week despite copping heavy knocks and pains at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

The second loss to Geelong in the space of nine weeks presented a clear snapshot of Port Adelaide in Season 2020 - a team that remains “good” when it has tried to become “great”.

“It has been us,” Hinkley said of the 12-point result against Geelong that marks Port Adelaide’s sixth loss by two goals or less this season (in which it has a 2-6 record in such matches). “To be fair, it has been us. We have been okay. We have been good enough at times - but not for long enough.

“That is the reality. We have not been good enough for long enough.

”(The close losses) are telling us we are good enough at times, but not for long enough. That is why you end up on the negative side of that count. We have played the top two teams in the past two weeks (losing by 14 points to Melbourne in Alice Springs and by 12 points at home to Geelong). Gee, we are close … but that does not make me feel any better and it does not make the team feel any better. And I am sure it does not make any Port Adelaide people feel any better.

“Losing is terrible. It is hollow. We go out trying to win every game. We did not perform at a level we wanted to for long enough. So we get the feeling of losing.

“We don’t finish as we should. We are not as consistent as we should be. We have a turnover issue at the wrong times in matches. No-one plays perfect footy for 120 minutes, but you have to limit the damage the opposition is doing. Momentum is real and it is big and it is hard to swing. We have not stopped enough of the momentum when the opposition has had their seven or eight minutes.

“And Geelong could not stop us in the third quarter. But they are two goals in front at the end.”

The answer to the long-running question of Port Adelaide’s failure to take the next step from “good” to “great” falls to the football group.

“Clearly, we are not great,” Hinkley said. “We are a long way from the top of the ladder, so it is a fair assessment (that we have failed to be great). If you look at the ladder (where Port Adelaide is 11th) we probably do not belong in the ‘good’ class.

“But we have kept going (in the chase for greatness).”

Port Adelaide yet again put itself in a challenging position - this time with a 34-point deficit at half-time - while failing to cope with a momentum swing to the opposition. Geelong scored four goals in time-on of the second term.

“It is seven, eight minutes - across the course of the year - that is what it has been, seven or eight minutes (when the opposition dominates),” Hinkley said. “It tells you that you are not playing football long enough at the level you need to play to be at the top.

“The back end of that second quarter - where Geelong got those four goals - that was too easy for them. Other than that, we were doing a lot of things right.

“The boys did not need to change too much in the third quarter. They just needed to stay together - and that was my message at half-time: ‘Stick together, play together and you will be okay’.

“I thought we broke a little bit individually in those seven to eight minutes (at the end of the second term) and that is a thing for us to do.

“Turnovers (hurt) - and when you give them up in bad spots on the ground against a side that is running hard forward - with Geelong playing more aggressively and more attacking this year - you are made to look dispirited. Those turnovers are the biggest part (of the fall away during the second term).

“We had our chances (in the last term). There is a lot of pressure out there. We were playing a team that gets back (to defensive positions) very quick. They make it pretty challenging to score.

Port Adelaide’s eight-goal response in the third term does again underline Hinkley has a team responding to the challenge.

“They don’t give up; they have a go,” Hinkley said. “They stick at it. But it is frustrating for them. It is really frustrating for them, as much as it is for everyone who is watching and wanting them to be better.

“They know that. They understand that. But they also have a real challenge to keep in the moment and get going again.”

Hinkley paid tribute to All-Australian key forward and makeshift ruckman Charlie Dixon who led Port Adelaide’s revival after half-time.

“Charlie is a fantastic leader, more so when there is adversity against him,” Hinkley said. “Charlie leads. He is an outstanding representative of our football club with the way he goes about things. That is why we love him in the team.”

Dixon will continue to work in two roles - ruckman and forward.

“We will play him where we need him,” said Hinkley who is still uncertain on the return of lead ruckman Scott Lycett (shoulder) and the readiness of novice ruckmen Sam Hayes and Brynn Teakle. “We will put him where we want him. That is what we have to do. Some of these things are forced upon us - and the pleasing note is that Charlie is prepared to go wherever we need him at the time.

“Tonight, he was more a forward presence for us. Ideally, that is where his future is for us. But we have to manage what we have at the moment.”