The Power have not won a game since coming from behind to beat Essendon at Etihad Stadium in round seven and face top-four fancies in Fremantle, Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs over the coming month.
Port Adelaide started the season strongly, winning five of its first seven games and Carlile said he was confident the club could recapture its good early-season form.
“We haven’t written finals off at all and we’re still pretty confident. We just need to get one or two wins on the board and then we’ll go from there,” Carlile said on Thursday.
“We’re not really looking any further forward than Fremantle (in round 14). We did the [Subiaco] road trip earlier this year and beat West Coast, so hopefully we can do it again.”
The Power showed similar promise at the start of last season, winning four of their first six games before fading to finish 10th on the AFL ladder.
Skipper Dom Cassisi tried to trigger a response from his players with early-morning swim sessions and torturous training drills, but nothing cured Port Adelaide’s inconsistency.
Carlile said the club was taking a different approach to the tough times this season.
“Last year we probably would’ve got flogged [after losing six games], but with Jenny Williams and Jan Stirling it’s more about trying to get that confidence back up to where it was in rounds one to seven and then we’ll work from there,” Carlile said.
“Dom, Broges (Dean Brogan) and Surj (Jacob Surjan) have always been pretty positive with how we’re playing. They’re just trying to get everyone to be calmer going forward and with our skills.
“We’ve had a few meetings and I think a fair bit of it is just confidence. Once we get our confidence back up and going I think our skills will follow.”
Injured trio Robbie Gray (hamstring), Hamish Hartlett (quad) and Brett Ebert (ankle) were restricted to jogging laps at Thursday’s training session, but the club is optimistic all three players will be available for the clash with Freo after the break.
Vice-captain Jacob Surjan will miss the trip to Perth on July 3 after having minor surgery on his knee.
Dashing half-back Nathan Krakouer is still two weeks away from making his comeback from a lingering groin complaint, but all the talk continues to be about his future beyond this year.
The out-of-contract Krakouer has been linked to Gold Coast and coach Mark Williams has admitted the situation with the young West Australian is “starting to smell a bit”.
Port Adelaide was hopeful the mid-season break would attract some big-name signatures, including that of in-demand midfielder Travis Boak but Carlile denied the players were putting pressure on the star pair to re-sign.
“Boaky is a pretty handy player, so it would be good to see him stay. We haven’t talked to them (Boak and Krakouer) about it at all,” he said.
“It’s a pretty personal issue with contract talk, so we’ll just leave it up to them.”
On Wednesday the AFL revised the concessions for clubs that lose star players to expansion teams Gold Coast or Greater Western Sydney.
Under the system, clubs will receive two first-round picks in the national draft if they lose an uncontracted player judged by the League to be the ‘top echelon’ of talent.
Port Adelaide football manager Peter Rohde declared the concessions to be inadequate, saying there was no compensation for all the time and money spent on developing a future star like Boak.
