AFTER a week of Port Adelaide being under the microscope - both externally and internally - senior coach Ken Hinkley is still upbeat on how his team can meet the challenge to be an AFL pacesetter.

"We can either be doom and gloom ... or we can be quite positive about where we are," Hinkley said at Alberton on Saturday morning.

"We're 6-3. There are three times when we would have liked to have been better - but there are six times when we are doing it pretty well.

"I'd like to stick with being quite positive over what we have done over a good period of time. And our boys deserve credit for being able to do that."

Port Adelaide faces 16th-placed Collingwood (2-7) at the MCG on Sunday with the external watch on how Hinkley and his team's midfield unit respond to the key lessons taken from last weekend's 25-point loss to the second-placed Western Bulldogs.

The loss in contested football added to the shadows from the other two losses of the home-and-away season, to West Coast in Perth in round 3 and Brisbane at the Gabba in round 7.

All this brings into question Port Adelaide's work in the contest and its place in the AFL premiership race.

But there is no impending rewrite of the Port Adelaide playbook.

"We have really clear and accurate information against the better teams and what they have been able to do to us; we also sit on the ladder at 6-3," Hinkley said. "There would be plenty of teams that would be happy to be in that position. 

"We're trying to improve and trying become not just a good team but a great team. Our planning is to build the team, regardless of which round it is. We are looking for improvement this week.

"We looked at structure. We looked at personnel. We do that every week. And we are pretty consistent with our personnel - most teams are."

The fashionable statistic of the week is Port Adelaide's fall to 10th of 18 at clearance and the inference the territory lost at stoppages forces scoring plays to be built from further back on the field.

"We were talking about that this morning - talking about what the game has actually done," Hinkley said. "The game is actually lopsided. You have a simplistic view of we are losing more clearances, it can be misleading with what is actually going on in the game. You have to understand games are different from week to week; the start of the season is different to what it is now at round 10. Scoring is drying up again. That is what it looks like. The competition is changing a little bit - we are into the grind part of the season.

"We played a team last week that are an elite clearance team and we were able to go, first quarter poor; second quarter good. So we have to look for a more consistent - like the second quarter - effort.

"You can't lose (stoppage) and you can't win them all. But you have to be able to break even."

Port Adelaide-Collingwood games have most recently become dominated by defensive tactics, a theme noted from Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley's game plan.

"They are very good at it," noted Hinkley. "There are times when you are going to need to be patient. You are going to need to be in the war, keep firing. And there will be other times when, hopefully, the ground opens up. It is the MCG; it is a nice big ground and it will give us some chances to have a look - as it will (for Collingwood) if we are not on our game defensively."

Port Adelaide faces Collingwood at the MCG for the first time since 2018. The match also marks the team's second and last game at the G for this year's home-and-away season.

At selection, Port Adelaide has loaded up on defenders - Trent McKenzie for his first AFL match this season, academy graduate Lachie Jones for his return after ankle surgery and the versatile Dan Houston after his week off to ease shoulder pain. Houston adds to the midfield options.

"We know Dan can play midfield a lot," Hinkley said.

"Trent is someone who has been queueing up to get into the team for quite a period of time (and replaces Tom Clurey while the key defender recovers from a broken jaw).

"Lachie Jones is a brave-ish decision from us as a footy club. He has enough SANFL exposure. He has enough credits. He knows how to play at that level. What would we see differently if he was to play SANFL?

"We don't think we would see too much that is going to either change our minds or lessen our want to play him in our AFL team. “His form when he was in the team was really, really strong. He played two games that were pretty good and we are happy to have him back in the side. He is part of that growth as a football club between now and the end of the year.

"He is a bit of a beast when going for it. He has real speed to cover the ground. He is supportive (of fellow defenders in a high-marking contest). He has a lot of the game that we like. He certainly brings some stuff to our back half that will improve us."

Miles Bergman, who fell out of the match 22 which played the Western Bulldogs, will travel to be the medical substitute.

On the injury front, Hinkley explained why there is no timeline to the return of midfielder Zak Butters who has had surgery to ease nerve damage to a knee suffered against Richmond in round 4. This follows ankle surgery for an injury sustained at the same time.

"I don't want to put anything definitive on the table," Hinkley said. "Zak has had surgery to give him the best chance to be available as soon as possible. That includes this year. We are not writing off the season.

"But we have to be patient - and know that it can change quite quickly. And it might not change quickly."