PORT Adelaide coach Matthew Primus' says the attitude of his midfielders, not a lack of talent, is the main reason behind his side's sluggish start to the season with the Power still yet to record a win in 2011.

Match Report: Outclassed By Cats
 
The Power have come up against two of the best midfield sides in the competition in the first three rounds of the season, going down to Collingwood in their opening game, and then Geelong on Sunday.
 
Both have been defeats of over 70 points with the Power midfielders struggling to get their hands on the ball, while last week they came up against West Coast at AAMI Stadium, and again failed to provide a four-quarter effort.
 
Primus said it was their "attitude" that was costing them.
 
"I suppose against Collingwood we just got stripped a fair bit because of the bigger bodies," Primus said after the 79-point loss at Skilled Stadium.
 
 "There was a bit of that today even though we played against a very, very good midfield group.
 
"Last week [against West Coast] it was a midfield group that was as good as ours but just at the moment we don't have the ability to keep persevering for four-quarters."
 
The Power, minus their skipper Dom Cassisi, started off well but were wasteful in front of goal and despite having 14 inside 50s to Geelong's 11, found themselves seven points down at quarter time.

PTV Exclusive: Hartlett Post-Match
 
Their pressure was good in the first term, winning the tackle count 13 to four, but like most aspects of their game, they couldn't sustain it over four quarters, and struggled to get their hands on the ball with the Cats having over 100 more disposals than the Power.
 
"In the first quarter we played like we wanted to," Primus said.
 
"We moved the ball in a quick fashion and won a lot of ball through the midfield and then we just didn't have enough people to keep winning it in the second and third quarters."
 
The Port Adelaide defence was under the pump from the first bounce with the Cats finishing the game with 72 entries inside their attacking 50 to the Power's measly 36.
 
Despite being constantly peppered down back, Primus felt his defence in Alipate Carlisle, Jasper Pittard, Troy Chaplin and Tom Logan did their best."They've been let down by everyone across the whole team at the moment," Primus said.
 
"They've all played away from home twice against two of the best teams in the competition and absorbed 70-odd inside 50s against and I thought they've held up pretty good.
 
"I think they've equipped themselves pretty well considering how much ball is coming down there."
 
Primus predicted there would be a few changes ahead of next week's showdown against Adelaide, as he searches for a 22 that can provide him with a consistent four-quarter effort.
 
Steven Salopek, Brett Ebert and Michael Pettigrew will come into contention for a recall after playing in the SANFL this weekend.
 
"We'll have to find a 22 next week who can play over four-quarters and regardless of who we're playing, we need a win," Primus said.
 
"I'm not going to come in here and say we're going to make six or seven changes. We'll go through the weekend's games in the SANFL and see what our guys did.I'd say we'll try to find some guys who can make an impact on the ground and win enough ball for us next week."

Online Game Day - PTV Exclusive, Match Report & More