SILENCING the Melbourne critics and getting more confidence in their own ability were two things forward Josh Mahoney said came out of the club's 18-point win over Collingwood.

The Power defeated the Pies at the MCG on Saturday after trailing for most of the game, and the fact they were able to run out winners in relentless rain over a side that has finished well this season, gives Mahoney reason for optimism.

"It was a great win. Those are the sorts of games we probably would have lost last year, those close, hard-fought games," he told PortAdelaideFC.com.au after the match.

"It showed some great character from the guys to be in close all game and to run over the top of them in the last quarter."

Mahoney said it was satisfying to take a step towards hitting back at those who wrote the young side off at the beginning of the year, after standing up to the tough MCG challenge.

"The main thing is that people didn't expect us to do a lot this year," he said.

"We lost a lot of experience at the end of last year, and half way through last year we made the decision to send guys in for operations and it cost us a few games.

"But, everyone is firing this year, and it's really set us up for a good season."

A tough pre-season regime and belief in their own fitness are some of the reasons Mahoney believes Port was able to boot three unanswered goals in the final term and run out winners over the Pies.

"They've been going pretty well, in particular, in the second half they've been very good, and they've run over a lot of sides this year," he said.

"That probably made it even more impressive, that even in those hard conditions, we were able to get over them.

"We know we've done a pre-season we've never done before, and it's been one of the hardest ones we've ever done."You hear every club say that sort of thing, but we truly believe it and that's the sort of thing we speak about at halftime. We know we're fit enough to run games out, and we're doing that really well at the moment."

It may have been almost a decade since Mahoney was a Magpie himself, but he admitted he still gets a slight twang of something "extra" when lining up against one of his former clubs.

"I played with them about 10 years ago now. It's been a little while, but I still know a few of the guys who play for Collingwood so there probably is a little bit extra there sometimes," he said.

"But, it doesn't really have too much of an effect anymore."

The Power rebounded successfully from its traditionally-tough "Showdown" last weekend, which usually throws up both mental and physical challenges.

Mahoney said the fitness staff's increased focus on match recovery enabled the players to run out fresher after even the toughest assignments this season.

"We were more tired from a few weeks back when we had to travel back from Perth (than after last week)," he said.

"The thing with the "Showdown" is you know you're playing at home. We really focused on recovery straight away, and that's been one of our strengths this year with the amount of things we've been looking at for recovery.

"We make sure that we're ready to go again, and the games have got a little bit extra in them as the supporters love us to win those games, and so do we to make sure we have some bragging rights in Adelaide."

Mahoney, who rated his own two-goal performance as "pretty good", said the players looked forward to the chance to play on the MCG and made it a focus to bring their A-game each time they got the opportunity – even when the conditions were against them.

The native Victorian, who loves playing across the border himself, is expecting a week of "I told you so's", with the majority of his teammates apparently critical regarding Melbourne's weather."Every time we come to the MCG, we all know it's something special. We have great memories here with the Grand Final win, and guys really talk about making sure we win when we get the opportunity to play here," he said.

"But I'm forever defending Melbourne's weather to all these South Australians."