AN AWFUL reality hit Port Adelaide between the eyes on Sunday against the Brisbane Lions.

They are off the pace in the race for the 2015 premiership.

The reasons for their slump are easy enough to find.

Perhaps the Power's players mistakenly believed they had the game worked out.

Their coach Ken Hinkley implied as much after the club's shock loss to the Lions.

He decried their work rate and resulting inability to play as a unit.

Although Hinkley sensibly said the slump wasn't about individuals, most of their high performers in 2014 are playing below par so far this season.

Ollie Wines has been absent through injury and Kane Cornes has one game left but they have a talented enough team to be playing better than they have in recent weeks.

One opposition scout AFL.com.aucontacted theorised that Paddy Ryder's introduction to the forward line has temporarily halted the 'Power' surge to the top.

Instead of once again settling in their respective roles - Jay Schulz playing deep forward, Justin Westhoff floating and Matthew Lobbe manning the ruck – the trio have had to adjust to Ryder's presence.

It's not the respective individuals' fault but the adjustment is taking time.

Make it work and the pay-off will be huge. Fail to find synergy and the question marks will get bigger.

Rather than creating another scoring option, Port Adelaide's dropped from the second highest scorer in the AFL to the 12th.

Worse, the ball is coming out of the Power’s forward line too easily as efforts to trap it inside 50 fail.

They are ranked 13th for the time in forward-half differential, a statistic they led they competition in during 2014.

To lock the ball inside 50 you need to take marks, create stoppages or create throw-ins.

The Power are averaging just 37 stoppages a game in their forward half this season (sixth) compared to 40.2 in 2014 (first).

They were ranked second for marks inside 50 last season but sit 11th this season.

Of course these numbers are a function of fewer inside 50s but they also indicate an inability to create repeat entries.

The Power's inside-50 differentials sit at -10.7 per game, exactly opposite to 2014 when they created 10 more inside 50s per game than their opposition.

On Sunday against the Lions, they Power managed 20 tackles inside the forward 50 but they could not stop the overlap handball that created goals in the second quarter.

The fact is teams are finding the Power easier to beat now than they were this time last season. They have won just nine of their past 21 games.

Port's transition between the 50m arcs has also become second-rate.

After round seven the Power are ranked 16th for transition from the defensive mid to inside 50 after being ranked second in the competition for that statistic in 2014.

Both Jasper Pittard and Matthew Broadbent are good players but they are struggling to connect with their forwards and midfields as opponents deny the Power use of the corridor.

To their credit Port's players have been pushing back hard in defence to make it hard for their opponents to score (they are ranked first for stopping opposition scores inside 50) and they have been reasonable in the transition from deep in defence (ranked sixth).

But they are not running hard enough to get into the best positions to stop turnovers turning into scores or to create outlets when they want to attack.

That indicates a subconscious drop off in concentration that leads teams to expect things to happen rather than making them happen.

Hinkley said after the game soul searching was required.

West Coast (59 points) and Hawthorn (58 points) both scored heavily from turnovers when they played the Power.

The Eagles were able to work their way through the corridor with handball and Hawthorn just kept getting opportunities as Port Adelaide failed to move the ball from defence.

Funnily enough against the Brisbane Lions, the stoppages were a problem, with the Lions scoring 66 points from stoppages.

This is a major concern because Port has broken even in scores from stoppages this season but reinforces Hinkley's post-game sense that they weren’t working hard enough at the contest.

Forget reading anything that isn't there about the sudden retirement of veteran Cornes as a significant reason the Power are struggling.

Instead of thinking doing just enough is good enough the Power need to resume playing with the maniacal fervour that has defined this group so far under Hinkley.

It will if the coach has anything to do with it.

"Right now, Port Adelaide are not delivering on the main ingredient and that is playing team footy," Hinkley said.

Stats supplied by Champion Data