PORT Adelaide isn't giving up on its finals ambitions despite midfielder Hamish Hartlett's admission that making the top eight now appeared a tough prospect.
The Power surged home late against Adelaide on Sunday, booting the final four goals of the game to fall three points short of the Crows in Showdown XXXIX.
The loss leaves them two-and-a-half games out of the eight, courtesy of the two points that eighth-placed Adelaide received after its cancelled round 14 clash with Geelong in the wake of Phil Walsh's death.
WWL: Power can't win with 20 minutes of footy
Hartlett said with just six wins, the 12th-placed Power basically needed to win each of their seven remaining games to play in a third successive finals series.
"When you're in the position that we're in, we more or less need to win every game for the rest of the year, which is clearly going to be tough," Hartlett said.
"But you can't look that far ahead ... you need to work on what went wrong in the game you just played.
"We know our best footy is good enough and we've shown that in periods this year but, like I keep saying, it's just that ability to do it consistently over four quarters ... that's been the difference.
"A four-quarter effort is what we need."
HINKLEY: Still searching for four quarters
Hartlett said he expected younger and more inexperienced players to receive chances to prove their worth at the elite level as the end of the season neared.
He insisted that coach Ken Hinkley would still pick the club's best possible side, but that given the form of several senior players – and that of players in the SANFL – changes were natural.
Karl Amon responded well for the Magpies after being dropped from the senior side, collecting 19 possessions, laying seven tackles and kicking a goal, while running defender Darcy Byrne-Jones continued his development with 23 disposals.
Jesse Palmer appears on the verge of an AFL debut after skipping the SANFL at the weekend as the Power's emergency.
"I think opportunities will come for our younger guys. I think we'll try and get more games into Tommy Clurey, Jarman (Impey) – the more games that he plays the better off we're going to be as a team," Hartlett said.
"There's some guys in the SANFL that are playing some really good footy and deserve opportunities.
"I'm sure Ken will give those guys that in form an opportunity and probably look to the future a little bit."
