EXPANSIVE football has been Port Adelaide's mantra in 2019.

It's been the theme since the start of pre-season when the playbook from the previous two years was tossed on the fire.

The Power upset Melbourne on the wide expanses of the MCG in round one with all-out attack, playing on from marks, lots of handballs and taking on the opposition.

From the first half against Carlton in a game the Power were heavily tipped to win, everything went to plan.

Then, the heavens opened.

POWER SWITCH OFF BLUES Full match coverage and stats

The wet weather should have forced the Power to adapt, ditch the pretty stuff, kick long, spoil in defence instead of attempting contested marks and play direct football, but nothing changed.

The Power's third quarter was horrible. They over-used the ball by hand, having just 60 kicks to 81 handballs at a ratio of 0.74 kicks/handball.

The Blues made them pay, kicking four goals to one in the term and turning a 19-point half-time deficit into just a three-point margin at the final change.

"It took us a bit to adjust," Power defender Dan Houston told AFL.com.au.

"As backs, we went for our marks instead of bringing the ball forward and as mids, we wanted to get the ball going forward, and we over-handballed a bit.

"We had a one-to-one ratio of kick to handballs, so we wanted to get the ball going forward a bit more – more kicks, less handball."

There was a noticeable shift in the last quarter.

The Power got the ball on the boot more often – 63 kicks to 42 handballs at a ratio of 1.5 kicks per handball – and played a field position game.

"We got that talking to at three-quarter time that we needed to actually take the ball forward in these conditions and adjusted really well," Houston said.

"(Co-captain) Tom Jonas is really good with his honest feedback, that's his strength as a captain and he lets us know let's start spoiling the ball and not mark it as much.

"We all listen to him and respect him a lot, so that started to change in the last quarter."

The Blues made a key tactical change after half-time, pushing Will Setterfield into a tagging role on Tom Rockliff after the prolific ball-winner had 24 disposals in the first two quarters.

Setterfield kept Rockliff to six touches in the third term and seven in the last.

"Carlton went to work on (Rockliff), they had Setterfield come up and take care of him and slowed our supply a little bit," Power coach Ken Hinkley said.

"They made some changes and they got on top, but to our boys' credit, they adjusted again and they were able to weather the storm."

SEASON IN DOUBT 'Most likely a broken leg' for Watts: Hinkley

Premiership-winning ruckman Scott Lycett played his best game for his new club, racking up 23 disposals, 16 of those contested and eight clearances to go with 33 hitouts.

The one-two punch of Lycett changing with Paddy Ryder – the 2017 Virgin Australia AFL All Australian ruckman – up forward will pose problems for every team in the competition.

"His form says enough," Hinkley said of Lycett.

"He helps us and Paddy helps him and together they're going to be pretty hard work.

"They've got challengers coming, they always will, but we're really pleased that he's with us."

It wasn't pretty, but the Power took another step in their development.