FAILING to win the ball and making crucial skill errors when they do is at the heart of Port Adelaide's early-season woes.

But former vice-captain Brad Ebert believes those problems can be easily fixed as the Power aims to re-energise their campaign.

Victory against fellow strugglers Richmond (1-4) at the MCG on Saturday night is crucial to breathing some much-needed life into Port's stuttering season.

For all the unwarranted speculation of a rift between senior players, the biggest issue for the Power is their inability to find the footy.

The Power are 16th in the competition in disposals and 17th in kicks and uncontested possessions.

They are also 17th in centre clearances, commit the second-most clangers, have the lowest disposal efficiency (69.8 per cent) and take the least amount of marks inside their forward 50.

'What is wrong with Port Adelaide?'

"We're really trying to work on what we do at stoppages, our movement patterns, but then also making sure we get back to winning those contests and try to make sure we get the clearances back in our favour," Ebert told AFL.com.au.

"From there, the efficiency and that sort of stuff will come off the back of that.

"If we can win those hard one-on-one battles, we can really swing the rest of it into our favour as well.

"It's something we can fix in the next few weeks and getting back to winning those contested situations, winning those one-on-one battles and inevitably winning the clearances."

With two wins from their opening five games, the Power aren't out of touch with the top eight.

But they have looked anything but a finals-bound side in heavy losses this season to Adelaide, GWS and Geelong.

"The last few weeks have been disappointing and hasn't been the way we wanted to play, but I think the guy we have are really desperate, they're dedicated people and we're a team really wanting to improve and correct it,'' Ebert said.

"Going forward, we can definitely make the finals.

"If we get all that right and start winning some games, it's never out of the question."

One of the bright spots for the Power has been the emergence of impressive rookie Darcy Byrne-Jones.

"He's been able to take the first options and he doesn't have too much fuss about the way he plays, he just goes about his job and does it well," Ebert said.

"He's come in and really fitted in well.

"It shows over the last few years that Darcy has put in the time and the effort and he's starting to reap the rewards of that.

"When he has his chance, he's making the most of it. It shows persistence will pay off in the end."