Sydney 4.3 8.5 10.6 12.10 (82)

Goals: Sydney: Franklin 4, Reid 3, Robinson, Kennedy, Jones, Tippett, Jack Port Adelaide: Young 3, Wingard 3, Powell-Pepper 2, Dixon 2, Boak 2, Trengove, Byrne-Jones, Amon, Polek, Hartlett

Best: Sydney: Kennedy, Franklin, Naismith, Jones, Jack, Reid Port Adelaide: Ebert, Dixon, Young, Wines, Boak, Houston, Powell-Pepper

Injuries: Sydney: Robinson (shoulder) Port Adelaide: Nil

Umpires: Brendan Hosking, Shaun Ryan, Jacob Mollison

Crowd: 33,129

VOTES Sydney v Port Adelaide

(James Buckley)

Brad Ebert (Port Adelaide) 9

Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide) 8

Aaron Young (Port Adelaide) 8

Sam Powell-Pepper (Port Adelaide) 7

Josh Kennedy (Sydney) 7

Swans coach John Longmire says a failure to win the 50-50 contests was behind Sydney's opening-round shock loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday, where the Power notched a first win in 11 seasons at the SCG.

The 28-point triumph over last year's grand finalists was the largest round-one statement so far, suggesting Port could be one of the AFL improvers this year while exposing the cracks in a patched-up Sydney playing list missing several key stars through injury and illness.

Isaac Heeney remains sidelined with glandular fever, veteran Jarrad McVeigh continues to recover from a torn calf, Tom Papley is on the long-term injury list with a knee problem while Aliir Aliir is still finding form in the reserves.

Aliir is the only realistic hope of that quartet to be available for selection in next Friday night's grand final rematch against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.

And in a further blow to the Swans, Dan Robinson is facing another stint on the sideline after reinjuring the shoulder he hurt last season during the Swans' nightmare season opener.

"We just lost it, we weren't as good as they were, I mean that's just what happened," Longmire said.

"We just lost too many 50-50 contests, whether it was in the middle of the ground, whether it was in the transition period, we lost the 50-50 balls in our defence, too.

"Sometimes you've just got to do better than that. We didn't have a lot of good players win their positions and that includes our experienced players.

"We need to make sure our mindset's [that] you can't get an easy ball in AFL football. You've got to win them particularly when it's a bit slippery and you've got to make sure that you get the ball going your way.

"It's pretty simple sometimes, we can look for a lot of different answers but if you don't win enough of those you're going to struggle."

Not since round two in 2006 have the Power come to the SCG and downed the Swans. And not since round 16 in 2015 have the Swans conceded 17 goals in a single game.

The best AFL defence of 2016 was picked apart far too consistently by a determined Port outfit equipped with a versatile forward set-up.

Aaron Young and Chad Wingard did the most damage, booting three goals apiece. Charlie Dixon kicked two in the first half after giving Heath Grundy plenty of headaches early on but the Swans veteran bounced back and restricted the Power big man for the rest of the contest.

Two-hundred gamer Travis Boak helped himself to two goals as did impressive first-starter Sam Powell-Pepper, taken at pick 18 in last year's national draft.

Swans debutant Oliver Florent, pick No. 11 in the same draft, also debuted on Saturday. He speared a precision ball in to Sam Reid with his first touch in AFL footy, but drifted in and out of the game after that.

Reid managed three goals in his first AFL game since 2015 while Lance Franklin had four in a typically influential display, but there simply weren't enough contributors.

The result was a big turnaround from round 20 at the same venue last year, which the Swans won by 77 points.

"The Sydney Swans this time last year, they were flying, they did that to a lot of sides right through the finals and everything," Hinkley said.

"We've had four months to work on stuff and we've put some things in place that are non-negotiable for us and from a Port Adelaide point of view we'd like to think that starts with contest and effort.

"It's a big win for us, up here in Sydney because we haven't done it for such a long time – it's certainly one of the proudest days I've had since I've been here.

"We knew the challenge, we absolutely respect the Swans and we knew how hard they'd be to play up here. We just knew we had to bring effort, and we brought really, really strong effort.

"It was a really contested type of football match out there today and the conditions after half-time made it a bit tougher and slipperier. When you can match the Swans in that area it's always a good day. We kicked 110 total score which is obviously a really good score against a tough defensive team."

Port's impressive display came in front of their newest fan – China's Premier Li Keqiang who's country will host an AFL game in round eight when the Power take on Gold Coast.

It was a busy afternoon for the Chinese Premier, who was in the Power dressing rooms pre-game, meeting Guangzhou-born Port Adelaide rookie Chen Shaoliang in the process.

He also handballed a footy with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull before sitting with him in the stands to watch the start of the game as choppers buzzed overhead.

And while the rules of this unfamiliar sport must have confused Mr Keqiang, he'd have been left absolutely baffled by the willingness of the 33,129 fans at the SCG to boo Mr Turnbull when the political duo were displayed on the big screen.