THE THEATRE of a budding rivalry between Port Adelaide and Hawthorn spurred several of the Power's stars to victory on Sunday evening, despite suggestions that tension between the clubs was not discussed in the lead up to the match.

Captain Connor Rozee was dismissive of suggestions that Port Adelaide used last year's semi-final victory, and the ensuing friction between coach Ken Hinkley and Hawthorn goalsneak Jack Ginnivan, to motivate the win, but his teammate Jason Horne-Francis was more straightforward.

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"I know I definitely used it," Horne-Francis told the Seven Network after the match.

"I think rivalries are so good to have and I think the one that we're building here, it's such a good rivalry… so, I know I definitely used it, I know some of the boys used it, 'Kenny' was a bit fired up, but I think it's good for us.

"Ken is an emotional person, and he's really passionate which we love about him, and he was just passionate throughout the week. He wanted to get this win with what happened last year, we didn't want to let him down."

Pre-game Hinkley was bullish on what sort of performance he was expecting from his side, but in the glow of victory, he revealed the truth.

"I lied, I just hoped," Hinkley said with a chuckle.

"It's okay to say as a coach sometimes. People ask you all the time 'How do you reckon they'll go?' I don't know, actions speak louder than any words you can talk.

"Didn't matter who we were playing, we just needed to find a win and we managed to get there."

The decision to move Rozee to half back proved to be a sound one, as he racked up 28 disposals and two goals in a masterful performance. It is a move that Hinkley won't rule out for future games.

"We're there to support our captain, he's been (a) fantastic young captain for us and we just felt like it was an opportunity to support him a little bit differently this week. Very early in the week we were mindful of trying to help him," Hinkley said.

Amidst the positivity around such a significant win, the coach bristled at the suggestion that he might not be able to consistently inject the energy his players need to perform at a high level.

"As I've said all the time, the energy to help and be a part of the team and support the players and the rest of the coaching group, that's not in question. And I wish people would stop asking that question regardless of what happens. I reckon it's a really unfair question to continue ask (of) someone who's been around the game for as long as I have, and the club that we are, and we bring the energy week in, week out," Hinkley said.

"People you care about for a long period of time; you don't stop caring about overnight. It's real."

For Hawthorn, it was all about learning lessons, and the reality of playing in big games with coach Sam Mitchell admitting he didn't think his side deserved to win.

"The first half of that game was unacceptable and not the way we want to play, not the style and level of gameplay that we try to produce, and (we're) trying to work out why," said Mitchell.

"As you tirelessly try to work your way up the AFL ladder, there's lessons that need to be learned and we've been learning them, and we've been on a pretty steep learning curve over the last few years and we know we're going to need to handle big moments, big games, pressured games… and this was one of them and we've passed some of those tests, and we've failed others. Obviously tonight we failed that test."

Mitchell was focused on what didn't work on-field, and refused to entertain the idea that off-field antics might have caused a lapse in concentration, after the Hawks gave up 12 first half goals.

Suggestions from players during the week that they might emulate Hinkley's plane taunt of last year's semi-final failed to come to fruition, with both Nick Watson and Ginnivan failing to hit the scoreboard.

"They talk all the time about, if the opportunity came up, what celebrations they might do. Obviously, everyone who's done a celebration like that, they've prepped for it at some point so, you can look at that and think that we were talking about it. But it certainly wasn't a collective discussion," Mitchell said.

"The off-field stuff I didn't think was the issue, I think it was what happened on the field… there were plenty of issues on the field, and they're the ones that we're going to be trying to sort out.

"They dictated the game, they instigated the game, they taught us a lesson."

The Hawks were without star midfielder Will Day for the match due to a long-term foot injury, but Mitchell was reluctant to put the loss down to one player's absence.

"Would one individual player have made a big difference today? I don't think so, I mean we were 10 goals down at half time. So, Will's good, he won't like (me) saying this, but he's probably not quite that good," Mitchell said.

"Realistically we were ready for a game, it threw at us exactly what we thought it would, and we just weren't able to withstand it. So, there's some lessons to learn, and we'll go to school this week, we'll learn the lessons that need to be learned, and we'll be better for it because we've proven over a period of time now that when we work really hard on things, we do improve them, so this is an opportunity to get to work again."

Midfielder Conor Nash was substituted out of the game at half time with a wrist complaint, but Mitchell anticipates it is a minor concern, while Hinkley is optimistic that rebounding defender Miles Bergman's knee injury shouldn't cause him to miss any games, but will be sent for scans.