PORT Adelaide must lift its work rate if it's to get off the mark this season, leadership group member Tom Jonas says.
The Power were outclassed by the Sydney Swans last weekend, suffering a 48-point loss at Adelaide Oval, and face another test against North Melbourne next Saturday.
They trailed the Swans in contested possessions (135-146) and lagged badly in tackles (52-76).
Jonas said the side knew it had to work harder and was confident it could do so after the ground covered in the pre-season.
"We've got some ideas of where we can get better; a lot of it is just work-rate around the ground," Jonas said.
"We worked really hard over the pre-season, we know we've got the base to do it.
"We've got very high standards and Port Adelaide footy is a hard-working brand of footy and we just feel like we've got a little way to go in getting everything to jel together."
The weekend's loss followed a narrow defeat to Fremantle in round one and with games against the Kangaroos, Hawthorn and then Adelaide to come, Port is in danger of slipping well behind the competition's top four.
Jonas said the playing group could see the bright side of such a tough start, by learning home truths early on in the year.
"[Early losses] probably create a little bit more pressure – it's a good lesson though to play two really good sides early on," he said.
"It shows you where your game's at and where you need to get it to; we can wait until round 22 to learn those lessons or we can learn them right now, early in the year and deal with it."
Jonas threw his support behind ruckman Jarrad Redden, who found out first hand against the Swans that two years was a long time to spend out of the senior side.
A terrible run with injury meant the game was his first in the AFL since round 10, 2013 and while Redden was dominated by Mike Pyke and Kurt Tippett, Jonas said it was a win for the 24-year-old just to make it through the match. The only certain omission from the loss looms as Jarman Impey, who was subbed early with a hamstring injury.
The Power have a number of candidates to replace the small defender, most notably the AFL-hardened quartet of Kane Mitchell, Aaron Young, Andrew Moore and Cam O'Shea.
