PORT ADELAIDE SANFL coach Matthew Lokan was satisfied with the four-quarter effort from his side despite the loss to South Adelaide at Noarlunga.

The Magpies led for most of the day until the final quarter before falling by nine points.

Lokan said the game was a “really competitive hit out”.

“South are a good side and really hard to beat down here and I actually felt we played really well,” he said.

“We were able to play two quarters last week and we've got over the line and I thought today we played four quarters, we just weren't good enough in the end.”

Lokan lamented the missed opportunities, with Port kicking 4.7 to half-time.

“We probably should have been three or four goals up at half-time,” he said.

“A little bit inefficient in front of goal and just made some poor skill execution errors in important parts of the ground, which South were able to capitalise on.

“We never like losing coming down here, it's a really hard place to win at and credit to our guys to be able to stick it out against a good side.”

Tom Rockliff returned to the side in style, while captain Cam Sutcliffe was inspirational.

“Rocky had 41 disposals, seven clearances, six tackles, it was a pretty good day out,” Lokan said.

“Rocky hasn't played much footy over the last month, obviously being an AFL sub and then getting knocked out against Norwood in round one, so it was pleasing that he came back in and was a really important contributor for us.

“It would be fair to say Cam probably hasn't been in the best form, but 29 disposals, seven tackles himself and three goals, it's a huge day from our captain and I feel he really led really well today.”

Pete Ladhams returned to the SANFL to partner Sam Hayes in the ruck and the duo dominated the hitouts.

“It's a nice luxury to have when you have two guys over 200cm and obviously hitouts is only one stat but we dominated and we ended up winning the clearances in the end,” Lokan said.

“Those two guys gave us a really good first look at it, we just turned the ball over and South's speed and ability to get on the outsides was a real strength of theirs.”

Sam Powell-Pepper played his first game of football for the year and Lokan was pleased with his performance.

“He hadn't played any footy this year, so we didn't have high expectations,” he said.

“We just wanted him to play his role. I thought that Pep did that. He worked really hard and he got through the game unscathed which is really important.”

The Magpies next travel to Glenelg to take on the Tigers on Saturday.