Port Adelaide skipper Tom Jonas has set the team target as a top-four finish - and he is very clear on how to build this launching pad to September's top-eight AFL finals.

"To secure a top-four spot," said Jonas of Port Adelaide's ambitions on leaving the AFL mid-season bye, "our focus right now is on process ... if we can get that right, the results will take care of themselves. 

"If you look at the flaws in our first half of the year, it would be consistency of contested footy, consistency of tackling, consistency of getting that ball inside-50 to give our big blokes (Charlie Dixon, Todd Marshall, Mitch Georgiades and ruckmen Scott Lycett and Peter Ladhams) a chance."

Jonas started the year with a grand ambition of delivering Port Adelaide's first invincible season since 1914. At 8-3, he is keeping the challenge for high standards at Alberton.

"We talked it up at the start of the year, but reality of 8-3 is a pretty good platform," Jonas said. "We have not played our best footy for four quarters yet. 

"We have had a few injuries that have challenged us - and given other people the opportunity. 

"So we are happy with 8-3 and now have to build for the second half of the year."

Port Adelaide will resume with a clear agenda on how to build a top-four finish off the 8-3 win-loss start to the first half of the home-and-away season, the club's best opening for an AFL 22-round series since 2014.

The shining light of the Port Adelaide team is the best defensive record in any AFL - a 71-point average conceded in 11 games with just one team (West Coast) breaking the 100-point barrier.

Jonas pays tribute to more than his back six who were bolstered this season with Sydney recruit Aliir Aliir.

"We have prided ourselves on defence in the past few years; it always has been a big focus," said the 169-game defender. "It is a whole 18-man system that relies on pressure in the front half and also our mids to work really hard both ways.

"It is great that we are right up there. We just need to try score a little more now."

Port Adelaide's false starts in some games and search for consistency across games leaves a watch list - both internally and externally - for the 11-match run to September.

"Your goal going into every game is play four quarters, but - unfortunately - you come up against a lot of quality opposition," noted Jonas. "They have the same goal ....

"So often it is an arm wrestle. We are going to keep working on our consistency and contested footy, tackling and pressure.

"If we get those things right, we generally win more quarters than we lose.

"I wish I knew (the answer to the false starts)," added Jonas, who led Port Adelaide to a seven-goal opening in the 46-point win against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval in the last start before the bye.

"It was nice to get out of the blocks fast and almost have the game put away at quarter-time (with a 40-point lead). We obviously have been copping a little bit of heat for (the slow starts) in the past month or so. 

"It is mainly credit to the boys in the midfield for the way they got their hands on the footy first and got it in deep. The tall forwards caught a few and worked together really well. The pressure on ground level was great."

Port Adelaide returned to training on Friday morning at Alberton Oval with the expectation play will resume against 2020 grand finalist Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Thursday, June 10.

The mid-season break has proven a blessing for the players.

"It is always nice to get to the mid-point (of a season) and have a few days away," said Jonas who joined 19 of his team-mates on a golf tour around Adelaide.

"To refresh physically and mentally ... it was different for everyone, but it felt like a few blokes could do with a physical rest. And now we have to prepare for a big second half of the year with a lot of footy to be played."

The question marks lingering on how the fixture will unfold - and the "last resort" need for hubs - is challenging the Port Adelaide players to reclaim the focus they had last season when they came out of the 12-week lockdown with strong form.

"Last year we showed we can adapt as a group," Jonas said. "We really embraced the challenges. The schedule is pretty flexible anyway. 

"We have a young group that spent a lot of time with each other (last year) and is happy to do what has to be done.

"Obviously, we were quite fortunate last year that we only went to a hub for three weeks (in south-east Queensland). That is the optimum amount of time to be away from your family and friends. Any longer than that would be very onerous and you do have to give a lot of credit to the Victorian teams for making the competition happen last year by the sacrifices they made.

"Ideally, you would not have to go into hubs for long periods of time. The AFL and the AFL Players Association are trying their hardest (to avoid long-tenure hubs). But the reality is it is really important to get an AFL season away. And the landscape is changing very quickly.

"If hubs have to be done, we are happy to do our bit."

Port Adelaide will be forced into one change against Geelong. Essendon recruit Orazio Fantasia will vacate the half-forward line after corrective surgery to clear some loose cartilage in a knee.

"Orazio going in for surgery (during the break) means he misses one less game," Jonas said. "(Defender) Hamish Hartlett has an older body, me, Travis Boak and a lot of the boys have played banged up at stages of the year, so just getting an extra week (of rest) into those older bodies can really set them up for the second half (of the season)."

Lead ruckman Scott Lycett will complete his four-game ban from the Showdown to be available for the round 14 clash with Gold Coast at Gold Coast.