Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is lauding a "special" resolve in his players to survive yet another challenge in the most turbulent of AFL seasons.
The Power remain top of the ladder after downing the Western Bulldogs by 13 points on Monday night, winning 8.7 (55) to 5.12 (42) at Adelaide Oval.
The triumph followed Port's 51-point thumping of Melbourne last Thursday night, leaving Hinkley marvelling at how his players survived a four-day break between games.
"We have been able to conquer a lot of things this year as a footy club," Hinkley said.
"And again, like we have had to all year, we embraced the opportunity."
Port trailed the Bulldogs for the entire opening half, but were just three points shy at the long break.
"We were trying to fake it a little bit early, we were trying to pretend we were feeling really fresh and up and about," Hinkley said.
The Power then steamrolled the Bulldogs with four goals to none in the third term to bank an eighth win from 10 games this season.
"It's a solid performance," Hinkley said.
"I don't care who you are, every team is going to witness it (short breaks between games) and feel it and experience a bit of it.
"It's a tough environment. But our resilience again was pretty special I thought."
Port host reigning premiers Richmond in a blockbuster next Saturday night.
"Five-day breaks are pretty tough off a four-day break," Hinkley said.
"There are sides that have got worse breaks than us so we're not going to be sitting here thinking we mastered it.
"But we have just got to keep approaching it with recovery, refresh, go again; recovery, refresh, go again.
"We know every game is going to be tough ... we reckon we're going okay, we reckon we're on the right direction."