Tom Rockliff is one player from whom the Power will be looking for a bigger return in 2019. Photo: AFL MEDIA

PORT ADELAIDE
2018 record: 12 wins, 10 losses (10th)
List age ranking (oldest to youngest): 14th
List experience ranking (most to fewest games): 7th
Footyology draw ranking (easiest to hardest): 5th

THE INS
Scott Lycett (West Coast), Sam Mayes (Brisbane), Ryan Burton (Hawthorn), Connor Rozee (North Adelaide), Zak Butters (Western Jets), Xavier Duursma (Gippsland Power), Riley Grundy (Sturt), Boyd Woodcock (North Adelaide), Tobin Cox (Glenelg), Kai Pudney (Woodville-West Torrens), Martin Frederick (Woodville-West Torrens)

THE OUTS
Jared Polec (North Melbourne), Jasper Pittard (North Melbourne), Chad Wingard (Hawthorn), Jack Hombsch (Gold Coast), Lindsay Thomas (retired), Jimmy Toumpas (delisted), Emmanuel Irra (delisted), Jake Neade (delisted), Dom Barry (delisted), Will Snelling (delisted)

THE BEST 22
B: Darcy Byrne-Jones, Tom Clurey, Ryan Burton
HB: Riley Bonner, Tom Jonas, Dan Houston
C: Steven Motlop, Ollie Wines, Travis Boak
HF: Justin Westhoff, Todd Marshall, Sam Gray
F: Scott Lycett, Charlie Dixon, Robbie Gray
R: Paddy Ryder, Brad Ebert, Tom Rockliff
Inter: Dougal Howard, Sam Powell-Pepper, Hamish Hartlett, Jack Watts
Emerg: Matthew Broadbent, Sam Mayes, Jarrod Lienert, Connor Rozee

THE PROGNOSIS
Was there a more disappointing team in 2018 than Port Adelaide? Probably the Power’s fierce local rival, given Adelaide failed to reach September after having played off for a flag, but Port would have to be next cab off the rank.

After a serious splurge on established senior talent, the Power were fourth on the ladder after 16 rounds and themselves eyeing off a serious tilt at a premiership. Then it all fell apart with six losses coming in the final seven games, Port ending up one win and a stack of percentage short of the eight.

What was just as dramatic for Port, however, came a few weeks after the season via the departures of Chad Wingard, Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard. Wingard and Polec, class acts both, finished fifth and sixth in Port’s best and fairest.

The Power may have picked up a freshly-anointed premiership ruckman in Scott Lycett and a promising young defender in Ryan Burton, but it’s hard to argue that they haven’t lost considerably on the talent front.

Is the list still good enough? The worry is that even with Polec, Wingard and Pittard in harness, the Power still pulled up short against the best in the caper, their record last season against top eight teams an ordinary 3-6.

They also went from being a dynamic side which defended and attacked with equal panache to one of the stodgiest in the competition. Port went backwards in three key areas last season; its speed of ball movement, its capacity to hit the scoreboard, and the hardness of its much-vaunted midfield group.

In 2017, the Power were the AFL’s second-highest scoring team. Last year, they were only 13th, an average of 80.9 points per game, three goals less than the previous season. Charlie Dixon and Robbie Gray had shared just on 100 goals in 2017. Last year, it was 62.

That productivity was hardly helped by at times treacle-slow ball movement, the Power seemingly so focussed on avoiding risks going forward that their front 50 at times resembled a car park. The midfield undoubtedly also lost its grunt. Ranked fifth in the competition for contested ball differential two seasons ago, by the end of 2018 that ranking had slipped to 10th.

Fixing those areas has to be a priority. And Port did look a lot zippier in its two JLT Series matches against the Crows and North Melbourne, and certainly scored more freely.

Coach Ken Hinkley would be cautiously optimistic he can get more out of Tom Rockliff in year two, the former Lion impressive in the pre-season. He might have some ready-to-go draftees to consider, too, Zak Butters, Xavier Duursma and Connor Rozee all standing out in the trial games.

But as the final six weeks of 2018 underlined, the season is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistency, both individually and from week to week, has been an issue for the Power for a long time now.

Do they have the mettle to turn in close to their best week in, week out? Recent history suggests that any scepticism surrounding that prospect is probably fair enough.

THE PREDICTION
13th. This one could come back to bite, as when Port gets on a roll, it can be a very handy combination. But there’s no shortage of rival aspirants for a finals spot these days, and those rivals might just prove a little more reliable.

THE LADDER SO FAR (click on team to read)
13. PORT ADELAIDE
14. WESTERN BULLDOGS
15. FREMANTLE
16. CARLTON
17. ST KILDA
18. GOLD COAST