DESPITE his solid individual efforts, local boy Jasper Pittard's return home wasn't exactly a memorable one for his side with Port Adelaide suffering a 79-point defeat at the hands of Geelong at Skilled Stadium on Sunday.
 
It was the third loss of the season for the Power and they remain winless heading into next week's all-important showdown against Adelaide, following losses to premier Collingwood and West Coast.
 
While it hasn't been the ideal start to the season, Pittard says the side isn't low on confidence.
 
"It's still early which is a good sign. Right now we've got to get a win on the board, it's as simple as that," Pittard told afl.com.au.
 
"We've got the showdown next week; it's a big week in South Australia.
 
"We never go into a game not confident we can win. We went in today thinking if we got the things we worked on during the week right, we were going to win but it's about working that out over four quarters."
 
Pittard, who was the Power's first-round pick in the 2009 NAB AFL Draft, grew up in Torquay, just down the coast from Geelong, and was spotted by Port Adelaide during his time with the Geelong Falcons under 18s side.
 
He struggled to break into the Port Adelaide side in his first season last year, named an emergency on five occasions, but made his debut in round one this season and appears to have settled among the Power's back six as an attacking half-back.
 
On a day when few Port Adelaide players were good, Pittard had 27 touches and nine rebounds from the defensive 50, in front of a large group of family and friends from Torquay.
 
"In the previous weeks we've felt we haven't spread enough [in defence] once we've got the ball," Pittard said.
 
"We just wanted to be a bit more attacking-minded through the middle of the ground, which I thought at times we were very good at but it's just about sustaining that over four quarters not over a quarter and a half, which was disappointing."
 
Port Adelaide showed some good signs early on in the game but was wasteful in front of goal kicking 1.5 in the first term.
 
Their pressure was good too in the first quarter and a half, with the Power's tackling and intensity forcing the Cats to turn over the ball often, however Port Adelaide just wasn't able to hurt them on the scoreboard.
 
"That's something we're renowned for, our tackling pressure," Pittard said.
 
"We were very good at that last year but we weren't too good at it over the first two rounds so we wanted to pick that up.
 
"I guess to a certain extent we got to reward ourselves with our skills once we've done that hard work, and that's something we as a side have to get better at."