Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley intends to dig deep for answers to his side's second capitulation of the AFL season.
After three straight wins, the Power (4-4) were brought crashing back to earth in a 20.11 (131) to 5.11 (41) thrashing from the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat on Saturday.
Hinkley's men were belted 49-35 in clearances and conceded 18 goals to three after quarter-time in a performance as uncompetitive as their round-one loss to Collingwood.
"A game like that you have to have a really close look. You can't afford to be that bad, and that's our challenge," Hinkley said.
"As a group they've been pretty good. They've been pretty resilient and been able to bounce back when it's been against them before.
"We're going to have to expect the same again this week."
Star midfielder Zak Butters helped Port make a bright start at Mars Stadium but they were quickly overpowered by a Bulldogs outfit led by ruckman Tim English.
Tom Liberatore limited Butters' influence after quarter-time and the Dogs ran riot.
They booted six goals to one in the second quarter and dominated the Power with seven goals to two when kicking into a strong breeze in the third term.
"We gave ourselves a chance for the first 40 minutes but they went three gears above us and we weren't able to catch back up to them," Hinkley said.
"Even when we had the wind, they looked like a far better team and were able to score heavily into the breeze."
Hinkley conceded his players were left nursing injuries "upstairs more than anywhere".
But he doesn't expect many problems in getting his players up for a clash with crosstown rivals Adelaide in round nine.
"The positive for us is there's a Showdown coming next week and that will certainly help us get our heads into the battle pretty quickly," Hinkley said.
"We don't have to do too much hard work to get this team up in this competition.
"They all look forward to the opportunity to play every week.
"Sometimes you put your best foot forward and you're proud of your performance but today was a day where we certainly weren't proud of our performance."
Willie Rioli was Port's only multiple goal-kicker against the Bulldogs but faces scrutiny over a high shot on Bailey Dale in an off-the-ball incident.
