PORT Adelaide has rebounded from a searching week to show its best footy can be blistering in disposing of Essendon by 61 points at Adelaide Oval.

Just six days after being embarrassed by crosstown rival Adelaide in the Showdown and having their top-eight credentials questioned, the Power cleared out to a big first-half lead before cruising to a 17.10 (112) to 7.9 (51) victory.

The Power's detractors will prefer to see them pass sterner tests before declaring them back in form, but importantly for Ken Hinkley's men several players who had been down of late returned to form.

Five talking points: Port Adelaide v Essendon

Jared Polec, publicly criticised by his coach after his Showdown shocker, was instrumental in two first-half goals before kicking his own second-quarter bomb from beyond 55m.

Jimmy Toumpas (a career-high 28 touches) racked up 18 first-half disposals en route to perhaps his best career performance, while ball-winners Travis Boak (22 disposals and a goal) and Ollie Wines (25 and one) were both back in the form fans expect.

Usual suspect Robbie Gray was again brilliant with 30 possessions (22 contested) and two goals, receiving some good service form an improved Matthew Lobbe.

Full match coverage and statistics

Bombers coach John Worsfold threw some men behind the ball in the late stages of the first half and was able to prevent a complete blow-out, as his undermanned side battled hard all night against a better, more physical opponent.

David Zaharakis finished with 27 disposals for the Bombers, 11 of them contested, and Zach Merrett (28 touches, eight tackles) continued to put together an outstanding start to the season, but the Bombers' intensity was a step or two below their efforts in the previous week's memorable win over Melbourne.

Perhaps most pleasingly for Hinkley, Port’s heavily criticised defensive structure held up well. 

GAMEBREAKER: Gray's greatness shines through

The Power conceded an average of 122 points in the opening two rounds but its press worked against the Bombers, holding the visitors to seven goals.

Port had clearly been read the riot act during the week and improved to 2-1 on the back of a ferocious attack on the ball. 

Its intent was best summed up by a head clash between debutant Darcy Byrne-Jones and teammate Sam Gray during the third term as both players made a bee-line for the ball.

Power coach Ken Hinkley challenged his players during the week and said he got the response he wanted, but added he wanted to see that effort consistently.

“We needed to respond. I said that to the players before the game, we needed to make some sort of response to the way we played last week,’’ Hinkley said.

“If we’re worth something we’ll respond to that.

“We want to make our supporters, who again were here tonight, proud of the way we play consistently and at the moment we haven’t been that.”

John Worsfold described the night as a good learning experience for his young Essendon side and took something from the fact it fought the match out strongly.

"We're really challenging ourselves to bring energy and intensity and effort over the course of a game and I would say we were really pleased with that (aspect),'' Worsfold said.

"IN the last quarter we tested them out. They are a very good team, we know that.

"They challenged us in a lot of areas that we knew they would, and the boys kept buttering up and kept trying to improve in those areas.”

MEDICAL ROOM
Paul Stewart gave Power fans a scare when he had to be helped from the ground by two trainers after appearing to roll his ankle during a spoiling attempt in the third term. But he later returned to the ground, alleviating fears of serious damage. 

NEXT UP
Is Port Adelaide back? We'll get a better idea when they travel to Sydney to take on the hard contested ball winning Giants next Sunday. The Bombers face another monumental challenge against Geelong at the MCG next Saturday.

PORT ADELAIDE      7.3   11.5    14.8   17.10   (112)
ESSENDON               1.4     4.6       4.7     7.9   (51)           

GOALS
Port Adelaide: Young 3, Dixon 3, Amon 2, R Gray 2, Westhoff 2, Boak, Ebert, Polec, Byrne-Jones, Wines
Essendon: Daniher 2, Kommer 2, Ambrose, Goddard, J. Merrett 

BEST 
Port Adelaide: Gray, Polec, Broadbent, Pittard, Boak, Wines
Essendon: Leuenberger, Zaharakis, Z. Merrett, Goddard, Kelly 

INJURIES 
Port Adelaide: Nil
Essendon: Nil 

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Fisher, Stephens, Pannell

Official crowd: 44,601 at Adelaide Oval