IT WAS very much a tale of two halves for Port Adelaide in the nine-point loss to Geelong at AAMI Stadium on Thursday night.

In the first half Geelong showed just why it was the dominant team of 2007 and in the second half, the Power displayed some of the form that saw them earn the right to face off against the Cats last year’s Grand Final.

The Power were thumped in the inside-50m count 32-19 at half time and found themselves staring down the barrel of a 31-point deficit.

But Port Adelaide found some fighting spirit in the third quarter and almost overran the Cats to steal an unlikely victory.

The result was 109 points better than the Power’s previous effort against Geelong.

“The last half was pretty positive,” ruckman Brendon Lade said after the game.

“We played pathetically in the first half and then came out in the second half and played how we like to play football, which was great.

“We play half a game of footy and get close to the best side in the country, so it’s very positive.

“We’ve come a long way from the last game we played to this game, so it’s a big improvement for us, but there is still a lot of improvement to come.

“We are a fit team, you saw that our last half was better than our first half, and hopefully the cobwebs are gone and we can play four quarters of footy against Sydney next week.”

Lade and Dean Brogan were dominant at the ruck contests, winning 32 more hit-outs than Mark Blake and debutant Trent West combined.

But the Power failed to capitalise on the good work from their big men.

“We won all our hit-outs and probably ended up with no real advantage, so it’s something we’ll work on,” Lade said.

“We’ve been the best stoppage team for the last three or four years now and tonight’s performance will hurt all of us in the midfield and make us strive to improve next week.”

Warren Tredrea was a commanding presence up forward with two goals and seven marks, while debutant Paul Stewart looked at ease with his 18 possessions.

“Tredders is a recruit for us this year. Compared to last year he’s moving 1000 times better, so he’ll keep improving. Hopefully about mid-year we’ll see the best of Wazza,” Lade said.

“Stewie was great too, he did a few good things. It’s a big step for a guy who was playing footy for the Woodville-West Torrens reserves last year to play AFL football, but I thought he handled himself well and he’ll only improve.”