PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has again praised the resilience of his side after it was able to overcome fatigue off a four-day break and a slow start to see off a strong challenge by the Western Bulldogs on Monday night.

The Power enjoyed a hard-fought 13-point victory after overturning a half-time deficit with a dominant third-quarter which yielded four goals to none.

Hinkley’s side was being smashed in the clearances and inside 50s, and he put the slow start down to the short turnaround after Thursday night’s win over Melbourne in Brisbane.

“We’ve been able to conquer a lot of things this year as a footy club – we’ve had to,” he said after the game proudly.

“We’ve embraced the opportunity and our boys, to their credit, I think we were trying to fake it a little bit, we were trying to pretend that we were really fresh and up and about but, I don’t care who you are, every team is going to witness it and feel it – it’s a tough environment.

“Our resilience again I think was pretty special. We were almost entitled to be a fair bit down (on the scoreboard) at half time but our defensive group and team actions really held up for us so that’s really pleasing to be able to do that.

“And as we’ve done a few times this year, we’ve been able to adjust, re-set and get it done.”

Fortunate to be trailing by just three points at half time despite conceding 25 inside 50s to 12, Hinkley rang the changes and saw the benefits with Zak Butters and Tom Rockliff in particular in the engine room getting the side going.

Butters finished with 24 disposals, four tackles, three clearances and six score involvements while Rockliff laid a game-high 15 tackles to go with his 23 disposals and four score involvements.

“We certainly made some adjustments,” Hinkley said of the change after the main break.

“Like everyone at the ground, we were aware that the game was being played more on the Bulldogs’ terms than it needed to be on the ball.

“They were getting control of the ball at the stoppage and it wasn’t just at the stoppage, so we made some adjustments and some changes that got us back to where we wanted to be and good on the boys for being able to make that in-game adjustment, which was pretty critical in that third quarter when I think we went 17-3 for entries and won the game clearly.

“We had to change the way it looked around the ball so we did, we went to work and changed our stuff around the footy. Personnel changes, structure changed, there’s a bit that went into it.”

On Rockliff’s performance not long after the former Brisbane skipper was dropped for poor form, Hinkley said it was not just his numbers which made the side better.

“He does enjoy the contest, he enjoys getting in the way of people at times,” Hinkley explained.

“He’s proud and he wants to play. He knows there are some things he has to have right in his game and one of those things he brings to his game that doesn’t get marked very well outside of the fence is the structure stuff that he brings to us.

“He’s the architect around the stoppage for us, he can control lots of people so his football brain, and his ability to win it and be composed.”

Hinkley was particularly pleased with the efforts of young ruckman Peter Ladhams, who won the battle against Tim English with 32 hit-outs to 26 and 18 disposals to go with his five clearances and a goal.

The Port coach also rated the output of his inexperienced forward line, which included debutant Boyd Woodcock who was not even considered close enough to selection earlier in the season to be included amongst the 35 players taken to the Queensland hub.

“He came from a fair way back, from where Boyd started even this season,” Hinkley said of the 20-year-old who had a goal struck off the record after the ARC deemed it had taken the slightest of nicks off the goal post.

“We had the enforced layoff, where he was one of the boys who in the 13 or 14 weeks we had off I reckon he made a significant change in his approach to his footy and he’s got some pretty quick return.

“He looked composed out there at AFL level, and that’s not easy to do. I know he’s competitive, that’s not an issue and I thought we found another player out there tonight that gives us an opportunity for the future.”

Port won’t have much time to enjoy the win, which kept it top of the ladder with another short-turnaround to face reigning premier Richmond at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon.

“Five-day breaks are pretty tough off a four-day break but every side has got them, and some have got worse breaks than us so we’re not going to be sitting there thinking we’ve mastered it, we’ve just got to keep approaching it with recovery, refresh and go again, recovery, refresh go again,” Hinkley said.

“It’s been a challenging campaign so far but it’s been exciting as much as it’s been challenging.

“We said earlier, we reckon we’re going ok, we reckon we’re heading in the right direction and we’ve just got to keep playing that way.

“There’s what, seven games left before we hopefully qualify for finals, which we’ve got to get right.

“I think our coaching team has been pretty excited by the challenges, but everyone has had to get involved, our conditioning team, our medical team, our admin team – there’s so many things that go on.

“Some of the things that change from day to day, almost hour to hour, it’s a challenge but it’s exciting so you go looking for opportunities to find a way to get better.”