PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley says other clubs would be a little concerned about his side’s ability to hit the scoreboard in bursts after its win over North Melbourne on Saturday night.

The 11.12 (78) to 6.6 (42) victory was set up with a burst of four straight goals in the first quarter and a further five straight goals in the third – including three goals in three minutes.

It was not Port’s best showing of the season, but the coach of the ladder leaders said his side deserved to celebrate.

“It’s a good performance, we won by six goals,” Hinkley said in his post-match press conference.

“Sometimes you can get a bit too critical and I think we’re going ok.

“I think we deserve where we are.”

And celebrate Port did, with vice-captain Hamish Hartlett pulling out a drum and playing along during the team song in the rooms.

Hinkley said he hoped to see it come out a few more times in 2020.

“The game is so hard to play and I’m sure everyone who looks at us and supports us – our members and fans – they enjoy when we have victory and it’s important that the players enjoy victory,” he said.

“It was (development coach) Tyson Goldsack’s little play to bring a bit more excitement to the after match.

“You’ve got to create and you’ve got to connect and when you’ve won you’ve got to celebrate and as a footy club, we’ve been really strong on making sure you celebrate the right moments and I thought that was a moment tonight that we should celebrate.

“Let’s hope we get to use it a lot through the next six weeks or whatever it is, we’re looking forward to being able to do it more often.”

It was far from a polished performance and Hinkley admitted as much, saying his side tired in the last quarter.

It trailed early under immense pressure from the Kangaroos and was kept goalless in the second quarter before breaking the game open with a six-goals-to-two third quarter.

Hinkley said it was hard for sides to play at their best under the compressed season, but his side could feel some momentum and excitement building in the lead in to finals.

And he was pleased with his side’s ability to get a run on during the game and punish the Roos.

“It was really exciting for us,” he said of the two runs of goals.

“That’s what we’re capable of.

“We’ve played what 15 games now and sit on top of the ladder so we’ve got the capability of doing that and we’d like to do that for four quarters – obviously it’s impossible, this game is hard to play – but I think we show enough to teams that they would be a little concerned that when we do get that momentum that we can put some damage on the scoreboard.”

Port’s midfield was dominant, particularly the prolific Travis Boak, Ollie Wines and Tom Rockliff, but Hinkley reserved special praise for ruckman Scott Lycett who won the ruck battle against the talented and experienced Todd Goldstein.

“I thought Scott Lycett was really strong in the ruck against Goldstein who is a really good player and I thought Scooter gave us a good look at it,” Hinkley said.

“I thought Ollie (Wines) in particular was powerful in there as well and as a group they’ve been pretty strong.

“When we play well, they usually give us a good look at it.”

Port finished the game down one man with defender Ryan Burton limping off in the first quarter with a quad injury, but Hinkley said he would not predict the results of a scan to come in the next few days, nor would he analyse whether the zippy Zak Butters would be banned for a high bump which left North’s Jy Simpkin out of the game under the concussion protocols.

The game saw the return of defender Dan Houston after he served a two-game ban for breaching the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols and Hinkley was happy with his showing.

“I thought Dan showed he was pretty keen to be part of the team,” he said, without being drawn on whether ruckman Pete Ladhams, who was also suspended, would return next week when his ban is up.

“I thought he played pretty well and he was a good part of the backline, which was pretty strong together.

“We won’t make any commitments now (about selection) but we like having another tall in our forward line and that certainly is an option with Pete, and (Justin Westhoff) Westy was out of the side this week as well.

“We’ll work through that through the week.”

Port returns to Adelaide from the Gold Coast on Sunday and will set about preparing to face Essendon in a twilight encounter next Saturday.