Hinkley is refusing to sway from a game style which has been picked apart in recent heavy losses to Adelaide and GWS.

“At the moment we are clearly in bad form,” Hinkley told reporters today, on the eve of Port’s home match against Geelong.

But Hinkley vowed to “stick to what we know and stay strong and true to that”.

“We believe it works and we absolutely know it works because we have seen it work,” he said.

Hinkley said the problem wasn’t Port sitting with two wins and two losses – it was the meek nature of both defeats.

“Let’s not hide from the fact two losses have been really, really poor,” he said.

“You can get beat. This competition says no-one gets through undefeated every week… but there’s a way you should get beat and you can hold your head up a little bit. We certainly haven’t been able to do that in our losses.”

Port recalled battle-hardened duo Cam O’Shea and Paul Stewart for the Adelaide Oval fixture, dropping Jared Polec and Brendan Ah Chee.

Geelong summoned Corey Enright, Shane Kersten and Lincoln McCarthy for dumped pair Jordan Murdoch and Darcy Lang while resting Lachie Henderson for the away trip.

Port’s Hinkley has put heat on his misfiring leaders to perform against the Cats, who are in fourth spot with three wins and a loss.

“We need our top-end players to be playing well and we need them to respond really quickly,” Hinkley said.

“There is no easy fix … I’m still sticking with the boys a bit.”

“The best leadership you will ever give is game day. And the boys haven’t been able to get to the level they want consistently.

“If you are a tiny bit off, you lose. If you’re a bit bigger than tiny bit off, you can get belted up – and that is what has happened to us.”

-AAP