PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says the Power remain a work in progress but is convinced a big scalp will come if they continue to produce the numbers they did in several key areas against West Coast at Adelaide Oval on Saturday evening.

The Power won every key statistic apart from the most important one - the scoreboard - leaving the coach disappointed after a 10-point home loss, but positive ahead of an historic match in China against Gold Coast next Sunday.

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Port had 29 more inside-50s, 70 more possessions, 78 more uncontested possessions and nine more clearances on the back of a dominant ruck effort from Paddy Ryder.

But an efficient West Coast jumped out to a 32-point break in the third term and clung on to win as Port came hard late.

Hinkley's men were wasteful in front of goal and too often gave the ball back to West Coast’s stoic back six. The Eagles were far cleaner going the other way.

"It just shows us that we’ve got stuff that we’ve got to continue to work at,’" Hinkley said.

WATCH: Ken Hinkley's full post-match press conference

The coach said he believed the Power would take a big scalp "if (they) deliver on those type of numbers consistently".

"Just our clean possession wasn’t as good as it needed to be and they were good in the scramble ball…

"There’s one number that you need to win and that’s the scoreboard number and we weren’t able to do that. West Coast, to their credit, played their game better than we were able to play ours."

The loss leaves Port 4-3 and their finals credentials remain questionable.

But its two big recruits of recent seasons, Paddy Ryder and Charlie Dixon, both starred and the Power do look capable of mixing it with strong opposition.

"I think for us we’re on the right path (but) we’ve still got some work that we’ve got to do," Hinkley said.

"He (Dixon) has put some really strong form together in the first third of the year. We always knew that would be Charlie, and I think he just needed a little bit more support down there.

"(Paddy) was really strong again. He dominated the game. West Coast won the game, but they (Ryder and Dixon) might have been two of the best players on the ground potentially. But they win, they grin."

Hinkley said the Power would fly to China four days out from the match to acclimatise. The Power has a bye following the match and Hinkley admitted he was not quite sure what to expect.

"I'll be better prepared to answer some of those questions (about China) after next week,’’ he said.

The coach said the Power were likely to take a squad of 25 to Shanghai after coming away from Saturday’s clash with no serious injury concerns.