PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has slammed his team's performance against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night, admitting it was his side’s worst loss of the season.

The Power went down by nine points in humid conditions at TIO Stadium in Darwin, relinquishing a half-time lead after a lacklustre third quarter saw the Bulldogs score five goals to none.

Hinkley's men made a late fourth-quarter charge, but fell short to record their fifth straight loss, which came after a stirring 5-0 start the year.

The Power coach felt the loss was his team’s worst "by a long way" this season, and questioned the hunger of his players.

"It's been a really poor night for us," Hinkley said.

"I think it just came down to a little bit more want in the third quarter. They wanted the win. They wanted to win the ball, they won the contested possession really well.

"They just wanted to win the game more than we did, which was disappointing.

"It should be very damning because we should never have let that game go the way it went."

The Power play the winless Greater Western Sydney after next week’s bye, but then face a torrid month with matches against the Sydney Swans, Collingwood, Essendon and Hawthorn to follow.

Adding to Hinkley's woes, ruckman Jarrad Redden looks to have suffered a season-ending right shoulder injury. The 22-year-old left the field in agony in the final term after being injured in a ruck contest.

One positive to come out of the game was the club debut of tall backman Jack Hombsch.

Recruited via a trade with GWS in the off-season which also brought pocket rocket forward Jake Neade, Hombsch was one of the Power's best in defence.

"He was outstanding," Hinkley said of the 20-year-old's performance.

"Jack was very good for us in his first game for the club and he looked like a really genuine defender who wanted to defend hard on the body.

"He won contests one-on-one because he worked hard to be on the body.

"We thought we had a tall back who could come in and play some really solid football for us for a long period of time."

Port Adelaide flies back to South Australia today and will miss the next week of AFL football with its prescribed bye.

Jacqui Reed is a reporter at AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @JacquiReedAFL