AFTER its brilliant start to the season, Port Adelaide lost sight of what it took to win, midfielder Hamish Hartlett says.

The Power rocketed to the top of the AFL ladder and sat two games clear of second-placed Hawthorn after round 12, drawing lavish praise from the entire football community.

But as the club was being talked up as a genuine premiership contender, it lost four of its next five games and slipped to fifth.

Hartlett said the playing group was caught up in its own success and had taken its eye off the ball – letting slip the key fundamentals that had made such success possible in the first place.

"I think when you win a lot of games … often you lose sight of how you actually got the win," he said.

"Early on in the year that was what we banged on about and all throughout the pre-season was 'we know this is what's going to win us games, let's make sure we win contested ball and win the tackle count'.

"You're not going to lose many games by doing that.

"Perhaps we were winning games without realising that that's what it was taking to win them."

Hartlett said his teammates were noticeably fresher at training on Sunday after their time off from the bye.

The 23-year-old talked up the importance of getting away from the game during a break in order to recover mentally from the draining toll of professional sport.

That toll was underrated, he said, particularly for youngsters who wanted to spend every waking moment working on their game.

Hartlett suggested a more experienced player's ability to switch off during the season helped them protect their form.

"When it's just footy, footy, footy constantly for 10 months of the year, it can get very draining," he said.