After three solid performances with its new players and playbook, is Port Adelaide the ‘real deal’ yet?

Port Adelaide started the season needing to regain the faith of the pundits as well as the Power fans. Has a solid 2-1 start made Ken Hinkley’s group worthy of new trust?

• The Phantom’s Round 4 captain options
• Defence now giving Port some food for thought
• Round 4 teams: Tigers to make five changes
• Experts tip SA clubs to tame rivals

Can Port Adelaide be trusted again?

After three solid performances — with new players and a new attacking playbook — can the Power command the belief of the tipsters trying to make sense of a bizarre start to the AFL season?

And can those who have their emotions heavily invested in Port Adelaide’s on-field performances find more than faith to carry them through a season that cannot afford to end again in late July at Alberton?

With two of its opening for games against 2018 AFL preliminary finalists — Melbourne and Richmond — Port Adelaide was supposed to have gained a strong measure of its worth very early this season. But the Demons and Tigers’ woes suggest the Power will have to wait until Good Friday in Perth against AFL premier West Coast to get a real measure of its revival at Alberton. Picture: Sarah Reed

Former Western Bulldogs and Richmond coach Terry Wallace is a well-researched pundit. He started the season putting Port Adelaide in the “can’t trust” basket. This was inevitable after the Power collapsed from an 11-4 win-loss record to win just one of its last six games last season when it fell from top-four contender to 10th.

Wallace told SEN1629 this week that he has seen enough in Port Adelaide’s three games this year — in particular the style of play — to reclassify the Power as a team that can claim a top-eight finish.

That “style” is based on Port Adelaide eagerly seeking to move the ball quickly rather than holding ground after a mark. That greater energy in the Power game still has not made a dramatic change to the scoring in a season when the AFL has tricked up the rule book to create the “time and space” to reward attacking-minded teams.

Port Adelaide has improved its scoring average from 81 points to 88, still 10 points off the 2017 mark that did deliver a finals appearance. And the Power still has not breached the watershed 100-point barrier.

Port Adelaide premiership hero Kane Cornes has more of his emotions invested in the Power’s performances than Wallace … and he wants to wait before calling his heart safe from being broken again.

In-form former captain Travis Boak celebrates a goal against Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Port Adelaide’s first month on the fixture card suggested there would be greater clarity on the merit of coach Ken Hinkley’s refit. The draw had two of the 2018 preliminary finalists — Melbourne at the MCG in the season-opener (the match that delivered Hinkley’s “greatest win”) and Richmond at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

But now many would say Melbourne, at 0-3, is not a measuring stick. And Richmond without its trio of All-Australians along the spine — key defender Alex Rance, Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin in the midfield and key forward Jack Riewoldt — is far from a valued scalp this week.

So far, Port Adelaide has made its 2-1 win-loss record on beating the underperforming Demons and a Carlton team that is labelled as off the pace.

The big test is coming … in a historic Good Friday clash with AFL premiers West Coast at Perth Stadium next week.

Port Adelaide’s record against the Eagles — just one win in the past seven, no win at Adelaide Oval and two epic last-kick games favouring West Coast in the past two years at the Oval — suggests there is much to prove in Perth next week.

Unfortunately, the torn state of Richmond this week will only answer the question of how Port Adelaide behaves when expected to win.

[e-mail]