AT THIS time last year, Port Adelaide defender Matthew Broadbent wasn't considered to be in the club's best 30 players.

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Broadbent had played just seven games in two seasons under former coach Mark Williams and it appeared the Power might have acted prematurely in bestowing him the honour of wearing premiership ruckman Brendon Lade's No.5 jumper.

However, a change of coach and a change of direction at Alberton have seen the 20-year-old emerge as one of the club's most promising young players.

Broadbent was one of the few positives to come out of Port Adelaide's disappointing 18-point loss to West Coast at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.

He started strongly when others didn't, winning seven possessions in the first quarter and finished the game with 18 disposals (nine contested), nine tackles and five clearances.

The former Woodville-West Torrens junior said he was determined to repay the faith coach Matthew Primus had showed in him.

"It definitely helps knowing you've got the confidence of not only the coaching staff, but all the players too," Broadbent said after the game.

"With the new sub rule, we've got more guys rotating through the midfield and I've been lucky enough to be play a bit more through there rather than across half-back, which has been really good for my footy too.

"Now, I've just got to keep improving each week."

The Power and Magpies both recorded losses on a historic day for Port Adelaide.

As was the case in round one, Primus' men played well in patches but didn't work hard enough across four quarters to really challenge their opponents.

Broadbent said it was important his side responded with a strong showing against Geelong at Skilled Stadium next weekend.

"It was disappointing and not just for us, but for our supporters too. It was a big day for the club and it's disappointing we couldn't be consistent across the whole game," Broadbent said.

"We didn't win enough of the hard ball inside and our inability to spread and really rack up the uncontested ball hurt us too.

"We lost Dom [Cassisi] and Paul Stewart to injuries and it was a tough slog towards the end. I think everyone was pretty much dead on their feet at the end, but that's no excuse because we started the game badly and that cost us.

"We'll bounce back. We're young and we're just looking to improve each week."

Matthew Broadbent is a $251,400 midfielder/defender in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.