Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams was left frustrated by an imbalance in the free kick count but remained positive his side was on the right track after its 20-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon.

Williams refused to blame the 27-13 free kick count in favour of the Bulldogs for the loss; rather lamenting that his team fought back to within three points after trailing by 20 points late in the last quarter only to see the home side kick away again.

"Interstate it's probably difficult to win that particular stat (free kicks) but you don't want to be that far down that it makes it very difficult to keep any flow in the game," he said at his post-match media conference.

"I was pretty proud of the way the boys fought the game out. To play the Bulldogs in round 14 at Telstra Dome is always a tough gig. Our fans will be disappointed we lost but they know that we got to within three points down with five minutes to go (and) it gave us an opportunity to win and we'll certainly take that to next week rather than too (focus on too) many negatives. To be in that position late in the last quarter was terrific for us."

Williams was pleased with the performances of several of his younger brigade but reserved special praise for skipper Warren Tredrea, who played one of his best games for the year with four goals - including three in the last quarter.

"Warren is trying his guts out for sure," Williams said. "To kick nice and accurately was great for him but certainly was fantastic for us to keep us in the game."

While not looking too far ahead, the Power coach said his team was well-placed to make the finals and was well ahead of where he thought it would be after 14 rounds.

"We would think we are in advance of where we thought we might have been at this time of the year. So that's a real positive for us and we're going to try as hard as possible to keep winning," he said.

"Certainly with a big eye on the future to make sure our young guys get opportunities to build their game time."