CHAD Cornes described his first victory in charge of the Magpies as simple “relief” but acknowledges his side is yet to play a complete game.
After falling to Norwood and the Adelaide Crows in the first two rounds, Port Adelaide produced a strong effort to beat North Adelaide by 43 points at Alberton on Saturday.
Port’s inaccuracy was corrected with a 10-goal second quarter that set up the victory.
"I was a little bit nervous going into this one,” Cornes said.
"It was good to get a win in the first home game.
"There were some really good signs in first two games, but to be able to put a game together and get the win is a big relief.
"It will be able to go to the club on Monday morning with both teams [Power and Magpies] having a win, which hadn't happened yet."
Despite the sizeable margin, the Magpies had to fight for the lead throughout the afternoon after allowing the Roosters to kick four unanswered goals and lead by two points at quarter time.
After its 10-goal rampage in the second term, the Magpies again dropped their defensive pressure and the Roosters closed the margin before three-quarter time.
"We went away from doing the team things after we got four goals up [in the first quarter]," Cornes said.
"It was a bit concerning and it was a bit the same in the third quarter, when we got a big lead, the boys went away from what got us there.
"But I don't want to be too negative because there were some really good signs there and we showed what we can do when we play the team footy that we want.
"Being able to stick to that for four quarters is the goal."
Cornes was pleased with the efforts of Luke Reynolds (15 disposals, five goals) Louis Sharrad (24 disposals, one goal) and AFL rookie Will Snelling (24 disposals, two goals).
"I loved Will's game, he was really tough inside and creates a lot of out of the middle," Cornes said.
"In general, the mix we had on ball looked really good, we had big bodies in there with Biemans, Louis [Sharrad], and Snelling and Dougal [Howard] giving them first look at it.
"Sharrad is tough and he's aggressive and he hates being beaten, so he leads that charge in there [the middle]."
Port Adelaide has a bye next week and will return to Alberton Oval for its Anzac Round match with Central District on Sunday 24 April at 2.10pm.
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