PORT Adelaide coach Matthew Primus says he's "frustrated as hell" following Port Adelaide's capitulation to Essendon.

Primus is frustrated at how quick - or should that be slow - his players are improving.

He's frustrated at games like Saturday - Port led Essendon by one point late in the third term, but lost by 50 points.

And he feels the frustration of Power fans, with just 17,344 spectators turning up for their AAMI Stadium home match against the Bombers.

"This group (of players), they have improved - but they haven't improved enough," Primus said.

"And we're going to keep demanding a higher level ... until we get there.

"But we're as frustrated as hell, as our supporters would be - it would be killing them and killing us right now, letting that game slip.

"There are too many games this year that we thought we could have won.

"People might not have thought we were good enough, but today we were good enough to win but we just didn't have the polish and the cream on the top."

But Primus bristled at a suggestion his players, who Essendon outscored 6.5 to 0.2 in the final quarter, were not trying.

"You might say I'm naive or blind: I don't think we're getting a reputation that we don't try and we don't show an effort," he said.

Port forward Justin Westhoff questioned the side's will to win and demanded more from the club's senior players.

Westhoff said that despite the side competing well for the most part, when the game was there to be won, the Power didn't work hard enough.

"We thought we were in with a real red-hot go at three-quarter time and they just wanted the footy more than us, simple as that," he said.

"Our structures were pretty good, but just our willingness to win probably couldn't match there's and that's what it comes down to.
 
"At AFL level three quarters is just not good enough and we need more from our senior players, even though they were a lot better today, it just wasn't enough."

With Brett Ebert among Port's best and Kane Cornes holding Brent Stanton to just five first-half possessions, Primus was less critical of the club's senior players.

Instead, he blamed the loss, at least in part, on missed opportunities and a final-term mauling from the Bombers.

Essendon kicked the last eight goals of the game on Saturday and managed 20 inside 50s to five in the last quarter. Primus admitted the side was "mauled" and "obliterated" around the stoppages in that last term.

"With the inside-50 count, the stoppage dominance and the possession dominance, we needed to be four or five goals up, instead we were just that one or two," he said.

"Essendon might say they defended well, I thought we just didn't take our opportunities well enough."