HAVING lost three of its last four games, Port Adelaide insists it has "a point to prove" this weekend against Richmond as it searches for its top-of-the-ladder form.

Saturday night's two-point loss to Essendon saw the Power slide to third after the Sydney Swans beat West Coast on Sunday to leapfrog both Port and Hawthorn into first.

Alarmingly for the Power, they were beaten convincingly by the Bombers' pressure and intensity, highlighted by a lopsided 96-62 tackle count.

Another loss on Sunday would put Port in danger of slipping out of the top four and ruckman Matthew Lobbe said the playing group was desperate to respond.

"Definitely we've got a point to prove," Lobbe said.

"Kenny was disappointed probably by the way we were beaten inside, Essendon's tackling pressure was a lot better than ours; they were harder at the footy.

"I think for us it's about playing the inside football we want to, and that means we can get our outside run the [way] we want it.

"We want to get back to playing our defensive football; it's a great opportunity for us to do that this weekend.

"From there everything flows on."

Lobbe said the club wasn't worried about its form over the last month, arguing that most sides fought through momentum swings at some point during the season.

However the 25-year-old was quick to point out the competition's best teams were able to play consistently well for the vast majority of the year.

Lobbe said the Power had a good opportunity to set the tone early for the remainder of the year against the Tigers.

"You have momentum swings and you have periods where you're not playing as well as you would have liked, but the great sides – Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn – over the last few years have been able to be consistent throughout the whole year," he said.

"Having said that, Sydney did lose three of their first four games and now they've got a really good run on.

"For us it's about being consistent as often as we can.

"We're not worried. I think we're sort of looking at it as a challenge right now, as the way we train this week, the way we come out against Richmond [will prove] how much we want to win that inside footy and that we want to tackle hard as well."