The Roos seemed out of the contest when they were 50 points down early in the third term, but fought back to keep the Power honest and almost snatch an unlikely victory.
However, an ineffective first half proved costly and the visitors found themselves chasing the game and with too much to do in the heavy conditions.
“We would have liked the game to have gone on for another five to 10 minutes, but we were fairly wasteful in the first half and paid the price,” Scott said after the game.
“We ended up with 10 inside-50s in the first half which was not through ... getting comprehensively beaten at the stoppages, but through poor decision-making going forward.
“Port outplayed us in the first half and put a lot of effort in and they got reward for their effort, so really how we finished the game is irrelevant because we didn’t take our chances in the first half.”
In his first game as a senior coach at AFL level, Scott felt he and his side had done the necessary preparation and were ready for the task at hand.
A few tactical changes and some encouraging words during the half-time interval got his side back on track, but he refused to blame the conditions as a factor of the slow start.
“I felt terrific going into the game. I felt we prepared very well, we just didn’t execute the game plan we would have liked.
“The guys were very disappointed at half time with their execution and we addressed a few things and started to get some flow into our game.
“When you give a quality outfit like Port Adelaide a start like that, it’s pretty hard to peg them back.”
Scott was happy with the performance of his younger players who took the fight up to Port Adelaide, particularly in the second half.
He was impressed with Jack Ziebell’s ball winning ability and reserved special praise for first-gamer Ryan Bastinac.
“I thought our young guys held up very well under pressure.
“Ryan Bastinac came in for his first game and you can see what he’s capable of. He’s a mature 18 year-old and I don’t mean physically.
“He’s got a good head on his shoulders and we threw him the challenge of playing inside midfield against quality opposition ... who have been around for a long time and he acquitted himself quite well.”
