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PORT Adelaide coach Matthew Primus says the first half against Fremantle on Sunday was the side's worst of the year, but he maintains patience is the key to rebuilding the club.

While the Power have bettered their 2011 record of three wins, Primus' side hasn't come close to its 10-12 record when he first took over as coach in 2010.

The Power continued to make extremely costly skill errors on Sunday, with 7.6 of Fremantle's 11.9 total coming from turnovers.

Whereas Richmond coach Damien Hardwick and Essendon senior assistant Mark Thompson said they would show their players the door if they didn't play to the required standard, Primus said he would remain patient with the club's list - partly because it was the only one he had.

 "I hear Damien Hardwick, I hear James Hird or Bomber Thompson saying 'If players don't do this they'll be shown the door and move on' … you've got a list, you've got to work with it and you've got to educate them and persevere," he said.

"But also demand high standards that they keep trying to hit these targets and when they don't, yes you change up the team and that's why we've used the players we have this year.

"But you can't just not have patience and go 'Bang, that's it, I've had enough', because we don't have another 40 players to bring in.

"We do believe in these players, they have played some good footy."

Primus said he had no doubt the club would have improved by the end of the season and would continue to do so next year, but conceded the Power were a long way away from where they ultimately wanted to be.

"What's acceptable at Port Adelaide is, like every other club, you want to win more games than you lose, you want to play finals and you end up wanting to win a premiership," he said.

"At the moment we're a fair way away from that.

"By the end of the year we're going to be significantly improved from last year, we'll be improved from the year before, maybe not in wins and losses but we'll be an improved team … and then we've got to take the next step from there."

Primus admitted he was a frustrated coach, with the Power seemingly unable to string together four consistent quarters of football in 2012.
But he said his frustration was no greater than any other coach in a similar predicament.

"You can see the frustration of teams that are close, they're close to getting there but aren't quite good enough to win," he said.

"You can see it in teams who are inside the eight now but aren't playing good football and losing heavily, you can see the frustration in them.

"I'm no different to any other coach, the frustration of when you don't play like you want to."

Harry Thring covers Port Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.