WATCH Primus's post-match press conference above

PORT Adelaide coach Matthew Primus has labelled the Power's 19-point loss to Adelaide in Sunday's Showdown "a step backwards", and admitted his side's belief was dropping.
 
The Power have conceded narrow losses to Essendon, the Sydney Swans and now Adelaide, despite leading or being down by less than a goal at three-quarter time in each.

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After outscoring the Crows in the third quarter on Sunday and reducing a 27-point margin to just three by the final break, the Power allowed four final-quarter goals in the 19-point loss.

"We've been building some momentum and learning from our mistakes over the last few weeks, but today was a step backwards," Primus said.

"Every week that [sort of a loss] goes on the belief just drops that little bit more.

"We as a footy club have got to show better resilience than we have over the last four or five years."

Primus also branded Justin Westhoff the club's "only good player" in the loss.

Westhoff's performance was a rarity for the Power, beating two opponents to finish with four goals.

"[Westhoff was] the only one who won his position for the night," Primus said.

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The Power were smashed in the midfield in the final quarter, conceding 13 clearances to four and five centre clearances to zero.

Primus questioned the desire of some of his players to take their games to the next level.

"We've got some senior players who need to stand up, more so too, in the middle of the ground," he said.

"Have we got the quality of the very, very best teams? No … but we think we've got some quality in there.

"They need to decide whether they actually want to become bona fide AFL midfield players."

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Travis Boak said the midfield had to accept responsibility for the loss.

"Our tackles were down again, our contested stuff … we're just letting our team down at the moment as a midfield group," Boak said.

"As a leader in the midfield I think that's my responsibility.

"Our backs were fantastic all night and our forwards, we just didn't get enough ball and that's where they killed us in the last quarter."

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