COURAGEOUS Port Adelaide midfielder Brad Ebert insists the Power have the quality to be a top-eight team as their finals aspirations hang on by a thread.
Port fell 19 points short of Greater Western Sydney on Sunday to slip to 10th place on the ladder, three games behind North Melbourne in eighth spot.
The Power must now win their remaining five games starting with Saturday night's away trip to the Gabba to face the Brisbane Lions and hope other results go their way.
"I still believe our team is good enough to play finals," Ebert told reporters in Adelaide on Monday.
"You never know, footy's a strange game.
"We always feel like we're alive and that anything's possible.
"We're always trying to continually improve and that keeps us motivated and keeps us going.
"The carrot that dangles there is finals, but you never know what can happen.
"If we can make sure we play hard week in, week out, the rest will take care of itself."
After leading Greater Western Sydney by 20 points at half-time, the Giants rallied to kick nine goals to three from then on to move up to second on the ladder.
"It's a little bit of everything and there are plenty of factors that play into it," Ebert said of Port's collapse.
"When we lapse in quarters mentally we lose two or three goals quickly as what happened in the third quarter.
"From there it was tough going."
Ebert was arguably Port's best, kicking four goals to go with 19 possessions in his first game back from a bruised lung suffered against Hawthorn two weeks ago.
He also had to deal with a cut to his head that required four stiches and bled for most of the second half.
"There was a fair bit of blood coming out, but it wasn't as bad as what it was looking," Ebert said.
"(It was) just a little cut in the back of the head.
"The rain coming down probably didn't help the situation because it meant it kept bleeding and kept pushing through the padding."
Ebert said Power forward Charlie Dixon was likely to miss another week with an ankle injury.
Power coach Ken Hinkley said on Sunday night that Jake Neade, Karl Amon, Nathan Krakouer, ruck Mattthew Lobbe and midfielder Matthew White would come into consideration to return to the side for the match with the Lions.
