PORT Adelaide coach Mark Williams says his side was always in the game against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, despite eventually losing by six goals.

PTV: What Williams Said

A see-sawing first term saw the Power lead by seven points before North wrested back the lead with a couple of goals in time-on from where they were never headed, winning 19.15 (129) to 14.9 (93).

While the margin never exceeded three goals in the first half, in the third term it got out to 33 points before the Power booted four of the next five goals to get it down to 15 before the Roos returned to compliment to win by 36.

Williams said his side was still in it deep into the game, and he had some words of praise for the best player on the ground in North's Brent Harvey.

"We seemed to be pushing it uphill all day, but I thought the effort of the boys was pretty good, they kept going at it," Williams said after the match.

"With eight minutes to go there was still some sort of chance - with a couple of things maybe falling our way we might have put a little bit more pressure on, but I think in the end, North were the better side for the day, and they've done well.

"A real positive for us was Jay Schulz's 7.1... he looked lively.

"But Harvey's an absolute champion, and some of the things he can come up with when the side's under the pump, he'll be held in high esteem for North for a long time."

Lachlan Hansen (five goals) comprehensively beat Chad Cornes, with Williams suggesting the game was passing Cornes by.

"A couple of weeks ago people were saying that Chad should be out of the side, but I thought that the last two weeks he's been highly competitive, he tried his heart out, but he probably had too many goals kicked on him today," Williams said.

"Quite often he gets caught out because he plays in front of his man, and the opposition turnover the ball, and they catch it behind him, so he can't contact against them.

"The game has changed immensely since Chad started, where the opportunity for the opposition to move up the field and then run back behind you happens so many more times than it used to."