This story originally appeared on afl.com.au
PORT ADELAIDE is feeling the pinch after some recent "big body blows" and must ask itself whether it still has some fight left to mount one last bid for a finals spot, coach Ken Hinkley says.
After sitting fourth on the ladder after round 16, Port is in danger of missing the finals after slipping out of the top eight with its 51-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.
The Power will have to win their final home and away game against Essendon next Friday night at Adelaide Oval and have other results fall their way to qualify for September action.
Hinkley refused to look beyond next Friday night's clash when asked if Port's season would be a failure if it missed the finals.
"I don't want to think about that just at the moment, I want to think about playing finals still," Hinkley said.
However, the Port coach suggested his team would first have to regroup from its shattering close losses to Adelaide and West Coast in rounds 20 and 21, and Saturday's defeat when it was comprehensively out-hunted at the contests by the Magpies.
"We looked a little bit like a team I reckon that had taken a bit couple of hits in the last couple of weeks and when the last hit came today it didn't take much to knock us over," Hinkley said.
"It's a good question to ask ourselves whether we're up for the challenge and the fight and we have been most of the year.
"In the last four or five weeks we've felt the pinch and, as I said, we took a couple of big
"Today we looked like a team that wasn't ready to keep going and hopefully that's not the case because we've got a big game next week. We'll see what the ladder looks like at the end of the round and give ourselves every chance."
After trailing by 17 points at half-time on Saturday, Port closed to within four points early in the third term after goals to Robbie Gray and Paddy Ryder.
They were still just six points down late in the term, but the Magpies took the game by the scruff of the neck after an undisciplined Steven Motlop 50m penalty sparked a run of eight unanswered Collingwood goals.
Hinkley conceded Motlop's punch on Brayden Maynard – which led to an Adam Oxley goal – had been costly, but said his team had been struggling to keep up with Collingwood all match and eventually reached a breaking point.
"It hurts in that one moment, but there's a bit more to fight for isn't there than just one moment? If that's the breaker of you your mental toughness is not where it should be," he said.
"It was really disappointing with so much to play for in that last quarter. Collingwood just kept applying the pressure and they kept turning the heat up and we were unable to go with them at any stage in the last quarter.
"We probably hung in as best we could because we didn't look convincing at any stage. They just kept hunting us and we kept feeling their hunt.
"The scoreboard got us right by the end, I thought that was the margin between the two teams. One team was playing really strong aggressive football and one team was playing quite passive football."
