COACH Paul Roos said his team had paid the price for sloppy disposal into the forward line as the Swans narrowly failed to overhaul Port Adelaide at Telstra Stadium in Sydney on Friday night..

The hosts kicked the last two goals of the match, but simply ran out of time after the visitors had kicked the first three goals of the final term to overturn a three-point deficit at the last change to eventually win 14.13 (97) to 14.8 (92).

Roos was generally happy with his team's performance but said poor disposal outside the 50 had probably cost the team victory.

"When the ball was between 60 and 70 metres out from goal we just turned the ball over," he said.

"If we hadn't have done that I thought we probably would have had a big tick against the night, it was just that final disposal that was pretty sloppy."

He said he was encouraged by a strong effort from full-back Leo Barry and a good showing from midfielder Jared Crouch in his first outing in nine months.

Barry Hall and youngster Simon Phillips were other Swans to shine.

Nick Davis headed the Swans scoring with three goals, while Darren Jolly and Hall bagged two each.

Port led for virtually all of the first two-and-a-half quarters and by as much as 28 points midway through the second quarter.

But the previously lacklustre Swans found some rhythm and played more directly in the third quarter, kicking 5.1 to 1.2 for the term.

Roos reported reported no injury worries, though he rested prize recruit Peter Everitt for the final quarter because of hamstring tightness.

PORT ADELAIDE 4.6 9.6 10.8 14.13 (97)

SYDNEY 3.2 6.4 11.5 14.8 (92)

GOALS: Port Adelaide: B Ebert 4 D White 3 R Willits N Lonie D Pearce D Cassisi G Bentley T Logan A Cockshell. Sydney: N Davis 3 B Hall 2 D Jolly 2 R O'Keefe J Bolton M Laidlaw M O'Loughlin S Dempster S Phillips A Goodes.

BEST: Port Adelaide: M Pettigrew B Ebert D Pearce N Krakouer. Sydney: L Barry C Bolton N Fosdike B Hall.

INJURIES: Port Adelaide: M Pettigrew (Ankle). Sydney: Nil.

REPORTS: Nil.

UMPIRES: C Kamolins S Meredith S Wenn.

CROWD: 3013 at Telstra Stadium.