PORT Adelaide coach Mark Williams has slammed his players for their efforts during Saturday night's gut-wrenching one-point loss to Melbourne in Darwin.

The Power were outplayed for much of the game before putting in a blazing eight-goals-to-three final term, but that did little to console Williams.

"It was a terrible day. I thought we played terrible," he said.

"All credit to Melbourne. I thought they began the quarters brilliantly and we were chasing and trying to make something up all night.

"For a side that has been up a bit we certainly weren't well-prepared. It was a really disappointing result. I don't care about losing by a point, we were smashed all night and played one good quarter. It was terrible."

Williams said the reasons behind the poor performance were basic, which made the result even more infuriating.

"We didn't get our hands on the ball," he said.

"I'm not complaining but they got free-kick goals. There were about five free kicks at the start of the first quarter and the third quarter. We were giving them away so we didn't even touch the ball and that's pretty ordinary.

"We made some shocking mistakes in giving the ball to the opposition and missed a couple of shots from the goal square - kids stuff."

The Power lacked a focal target with Daniel Motlop and Brett Ebert well held for the most part. Jay Schulz failed to make much of an impression either but Williams resisted the urge to single out offenders.

"I'm disappointed with 22 players," he said.

"People get given opportunities and they have to take those opportunities while they're there or someone else will get those opportunities."

Schulz's night could well have been viewed in a different light if his snapped shot on goal had been awarded.

As it happened, an umpires conference failed to come up with an answer. A point was registered, much to the dismay of Williams who thought it was a goal.