PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has praised his side’s character following its dramatic come-from-behind win on Saturday night over last season’s grand finalist at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Swan Oliver Florent’s after-the-siren shot was stopped on the line by his former teammate Aliir Aliir to see the Power hold on for a two-point win - 9.12 (66) to 9.10 (64) - and end Sydney’s nine game unbeaten run at home.

After being the subject of scrutiny this week after the Showdown loss to Adelaide, Hinkley was thrilled with the way his playing group responded, overcoming a challenging start against the wind to recover from 25 points down in the second quarter, then 20 points down early in the last quarter to seal a memorable win on the road. 

"Footy is good,” Hinkley said. “It does all sorts of things to you; it sends you to all sorts of places. Ultimately you have to be willing to go to those places. As a footy club this week and as a team, we had to go to some of those places. 

"To come up here and play against a highly respectable opponent who we have such admiration for, in a hostile environment, with not everything going that great for us for a fair bit of the game, to hang in there, this team has a fair bit of character. 

"It wasn't a difficult week, it was a normal week in footy. The difficulty in some weeks is there is a bit more commentary around winning and losing, that's the game, that's what we face, that's always been part of it. Scrutiny happens; when you lose, you leave yourself open."

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Port trailed late in the game before Jeremy Finlayson juggled a mark inside 50 and converted his third goal with 90 seconds to play.

The 27-year-old was playing his second game for the season following pre-season ankle surgery, and dedicated his game winning effort to his daughter Sophia and wife Kellie, who is battling cancer.

“We’re there to support him with that but he’s doing his best to support us with everything he can,” Hinkley said of the agile big man.

“He’s had surgery already this year. He’s had a few things that have been tough for him to handle.

“I didn’t mind who kicked it. I’m just grateful we kicked it. But I am equally pleased it was Jeremy.

“He’s got an incredibly tight family and a close family at the footy club as well. His family and our family join together and support each other, and we get through.

“That’s why footy clubs are a great environment sometimes when things are not going your way.”

Hinkley coached from the boundary for the first time in his 227 games in charge of Port Adelaide after trialling the move in pre-season.

Hinkley joked he might not be allowed back in the coaches’ box, but explained the decision to coach from ground level came on the back of the challenges the group had faced following back-to-back losses to Collingwood and Adelaide. 

"It was a moment this week we felt like we're working together and trying to stick together," Hinkley said. 

"I'd done it in the pre-season, so I had the experience at it, and I've seen lots of good coaches do it. The challenge is you can't quite see the game that well, but I thought it was really important this week to stick together. 

"I thought for me and the players to spend time together on the bench was pretty important. They showed their support all week, I wanted to return the favour and show my support."

Hinkley won't allow Port Adelaide to get carried away with beating last year's Grand Finalists at home but was thrilled with the manner in which his side won. 

"(It does) nothing. No, not nothing, it does a lot, because we need to take every win in this competition because it's so hard. But we can't afford to overplay one week to the next," he said.

"The hard part about last week is we lost the Showdown and we hate it, we hate losing Showdowns, but we played a good brand of football to within six minutes of the last quarter and the Crows beat us. 

"The game against Collingwood we played poorly, but our other two games we played high-quality opponents – no doubting we've played high-quality opponents – and in a tough competition we are two and two. We are breaking even at the moment. There is a long way to go."

Port Adelaide will now return home ahead of Gather Round, where the Power host the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval next Saturday night.