Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus says he’s “frustrated as hell”.

Primus is frustrated at how quick – or should that be slow – his AFL players are improving.

He’s frustrated at games like Saturday – Port led Essendon by one point late in the third term, but lost by 50 points.

And he feels the frustration of Power fans, with just 17,344 spectators turning up for their AAMI Stadium home match against the Bombers.

“This group (of players), they have improved – but they haven’t improved enough,” Primus said.

“And we’re going to keep demanding a higher level … until we get there.

“We’re getting closer.

“But we’re as frustrated as hell, as our supporters would be – it would be killing them and killing us right now, letting that game slip.

“There are too many games this year that we thought we could have won.

“People might not have thought we were good enough, but today we were good enough to win but we just didn’t have the polish and the cream on the top.”

But Primus bristled at a suggestion his players, who Essendon outscored 6.5 to 0.2 in the final quarter, were not trying.

“You might say I’m naive or blind: I don’t think we’re getting a reputation that we don’t try and we don’t show an effort,” he said.