PORT ADELAIDE'S Jacob Surjan says the eight is still a focus for his inexperienced team.

The Power have been a mixed bag this year, with a couple of wins to start the season then a dip, before winning three and now having lost their last four.

But Surjan said the side was still expecting to see September action.

"It's a massive focus - we've still got a really young team, and we're learning week in and week out," he told afl.com.au.

"Our playing group is very resilient - we're striving to make the eight, and it's a realistic fact for us that we can make it.

"We think we're good enough, we just have to win games.

"We've got to convert in front of goals then we win the game."

The 24-year-old from South Fremantle, who was taken with pick 10 in the 2003 NAB AFL Draft, said that while they got a rev-up from the team leaders at the break, the side simply had to start games better.

"The leaders got together at half-time, and they said we were in the game because we were doing everything right, and we just had to get some scoreboard pressure on.

"Brett Ebert and a couple of the other boys came out and kicked some goals and we started to feel pretty good and we felt like we started getting on top.

"To our credit, we did that, but we've got to improve our first quarter for next week."

Surjan said that the ground, while a bit muddy and slippery after overnight and morning rain, wasn't too bad, especially after the deluge that turned AAMI Stadium into a mudhole last week.

"It wasn't really too similar - last week was really just a mud-patch - but today, the MCG is a lovely surface to play on, but we've got to take our opportunities."