PORT ADELAIDE coach Matthew Primus was pleased with the way his side battled through adversity in a tough NAB Cup clash with Fremantle at Victor Harbor on Saturday.

Power midfielder Steven Salopek broke his nose in the 20-point win, while teammate Hamish Hartlett sent a huge scare through the Port Adelaide camp when he left the ground after a hit to his injury-prone left shoulder in the third quarter.

The Power said after the game that Hartlett was fine, but the news wasn't so good for Fremantle, which lost Lachie Neale to a left ankle injury that looks set to keep the exciting draftee out of the start of the home-and-away season. 

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While the Power had several players go down at certain points during the game, Primus said he was happy for the physical encounter.

"In the last quarter we were in a bit of trouble with guys going down with blood and broken noses and a few other little things," Primus said.

"It was a real competitive hit-out. I was really pleased with our intensity, and we maintained it for a fair amount of the game compared to what it had been the two weeks beforehand."

The Power's competition for ruck spots doesn’t look likely to cool down, with Jarrad Redden again impressive, taking a number of strong marks when needed.

"Redden showed us glimpses again, or a bit more than glimpses. I thought he played pretty well," Primus said.

"(Matthew) Lobbe is recovering well, and Daniel Stewart has certainly lifted his game in the ruck department and is certainly giving us a target up forward as well."

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Fremantle coach Ross Lyon was left to lament another sluggish start from his side, which conceded five unanswered goals in the first term.

"You saw it last year, we lost 17 first quarters. The first 15 minutes (last week) against Richmond was really poor, and the first 15 minutes here we laid two tackles to the 12-minute mark," he said.

"We need to have a good look at our warm-up, a good look at how we start training and try and get some intensity at the start."

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