A whopping free-kick imbalance in the AFL win over St Kilda has deepened the worries of Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley about how they are being umpired.

Port beat the Saints by seven points - 12.11 (83) to 11.10 (76) - in a riveting duel on Friday, but the free kicks went against them 28-14.

Hinkley has been worried about their frequency of giving away frees for holding the man.

"It would be nice to get some clarity from the umpires back to us," he said.

"If we're that poor at some of the things we're doing, I'd just love to get that direction coming back our way, because I don't want to go searching for it."

Hinkley added Port had given up more than 20 frees ahead of other teams for holding the man

"That's a big, big number - that gives up 300, 400m in a game," he said.

"We're aware of it, we work at it, but we seem to keep on doing it. So we must have something wrong with the umpiring."

Saints coach Ross Lyon also wants clarification after defender Callum Wilkie was called to play on for deviating from his line as he took a set kick.

That led directly to a goal at a crucial moment in the final term.

"We need some clarity, because it feels like it's been really tightened up ... that hurt us," Lyon said.