DESPITE encouraging signs, Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus was left to lament a lack of structure in the first half against West Coast at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

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Port were completely outgunned for the opening two quarters, failing to counter the Eagles' press to trail by 33 points at half-time.

A more disciplined second half saw Port reel the margin back to 15 points late in the match but the damage had been done, as West Coast ran out 22-point winners.

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"Our kicking structures that we had worked on all week to an extent cost us the game," Primus said after the match.

"We didn't set up how we wanted to and got pinned a fair bit, and they scored off those turnovers. That put us behind by 30-odd points by half-time and it's pretty difficult to win from there.

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"We were able to fix it up after half-time and got a better response, but it was disappointing that with the work we had done into that, that they hadn't stuck to those structures and it was one area that cost us."

Despite the loss, there was plenty for Primus to like. Captain Dom Cassisi returned from a knee injury and collected 24 possessions, Travis Boak was outstanding with 24 touches and three goals while Danyle Pearce had it 30 times.

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Primus saw good signs again from Jackson Trengove and Jasper Pittard in defence, Cameron O'Shea worked hard playing on Andrew Embley and Hamish Hartlett spent time running with Eagles midfielder Matt Priddis.

"I thought our intensity and effort for the majority of the game was very good. We had a few focuses about our in-close stuff and ability to match them in there, and we were pretty good at that for the majority of the day," he said.

"We were very good against them [at the stoppages] last time and this time they had the better of us in the second half, and in the first half we had the better of them.

"The modern game is all about winning stoppages to get it going your way to allow you to play the game on your terms."

There was encouraging news in Adelaide for the Power with David Rodan kicking six goals in his SANFL return for Norwood. That was after one week in the reserves on return from yet another knee injury, but Primus wouldn't commit to when he'll return to the AFL.

"To be honest I'm not sure just after the game [on when Rodan will return]. I was pretty happy with most of our mids in there and I thought we held our own," he said.

"He (Rodan) is a very good player so we would expect him to dominate at that level, but it was a good response by him. We'll have to see how he pulls up during the week, but we aren't playing until this time next week so we'll see how that evolves."