AS PROFESSIONALISM and expectations in football constantly grow, there has never been greater pressure on first-round players to have an instant impact.

So Jasper Pittard felt some frustration last year when he was unable to find a spot in Port Adelaide's senior side after he was taken with pick 16 in the NAB AFL Draft the previous year.

Apart from a stint on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, Pittard played most of the year for SANFL club Sturt.

He came close to senior selection though, and was named an emergency on five occasions without getting the call-up.

But any annoyance has dissipated in 2011 with four senior games to his name as well as the round four nomination for the NAB AFL Rising Star.

"Every player in the AFL gets injured at some stage and it's really important how they deal with the injury. Hopefully they try to come back stronger. I probably didn't deal with it that well and got frustrated," Pittard told afl.com.au.

"It's all a learning experience and part of my development. Probably the fact I was an emergency spurred me on throughout the pre-season to want to get a game this year. At the moment I'm holding up all right but it's a long season."

Pittard was one of Port Adelaide's best in its surprise win over Adelaide on Saturday night, gathering 25 touches in a running role off half-back.

It was an exciting occasion for the 20-year-old on several fronts. Not only was it a Showdown clash and the best performance of his brief career, but it was also his first win at AFL level and the Power's first for the season.

"To see everyone pumping their fists and getting around each other was good. There has been plenty written about the club lately so it was a really good result as a whole," he said.

"It was a bit of relief when the final siren went."

A product of Victorian coastal town Torquay, Pittard admits to missing his home town, particularly on occasions such as this week when the Rip Curl Pro hits Bells Beach.

But it was his instant affiliation with teammate Travis Boak, another Torquay local, that made his transition to South Australian life that much easier.

"It was pretty convenient having him over here. I met him a few times before I arrived at the club. He always gets back down to Torquay in the off-season. I'd met him a few times there and he was someone to lean on a bit in my first month or so when I didn't know anyone at the club," Pittard said.

"He is living just around the corner from where I'm staying. It's been good knowing him and having a familiar face and catching up with him in the off-season. When we're back in Torquay we do some running and weights together. He's been someone to look up to in terms of his work ethic around the club."

Growing up in Torquay, 23km from Geelong, the young footballer went by the surname McMillan-Pittard.

But once he began life in the AFL he dropped his mother's family name, for no reason other than making things easier.

"I just wanted to simplify it a bit and take just dad's name," he said.

"There was nothing much to it, I just wanted a single surname like most people and decided that is what I was going to do."