Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley knew days like this would come.

After five consecutive wins to start their AFL season, he knew his surprise packets would be intensely scrutinised.

“That is what’s happening in AFL football,” he said after a 41-point loss to Richmond on Saturday.

“They give you a little look, they let you sneak away for a bit and then they start to focus on what we’re doing well.”

The Power have lost consecutive games and have matches against Carlton and Geelong in the next fortnight.

Yet Hinkley said the extra attention from rivals would do wonders for his club.

“We have been doing some things pretty well and now sides are having a really close look at us,” he said.

“We welcome that – we think that is great for us.

“The only way we’re going to improve is we get experience of that, having good teams come at us and expose us in some stuff that we need to improve on because we are still in that renewal stage.

“We’re really proud of our good start but we knew that it was going to become harder for us.”