Port Adelaide captain Tom Jonas credits a new-found resilience for his club’s rise to become the AFL’s pacesetter.

Port have banked six victories with just one loss this season to sit a win clear at the top of the table.

“The pleasing thing for us is we have shown the resilience we may not have shown in previous seasons,” Jonas told reporters on Thursday.

“Where we have been challenged, we have been able to respond.

“It’s more of a mental thing and an experience thing … we know what we need to do at what time of the game.

“And also we have invested a lot of effort into the resilience space and building on that, so we’re starting to see some of the benefits.”

Port host St Kilda on Saturday night before a stretch of four games in 15 days, starting next Thursday.

“We have embraced all of the challenges this year so we’re really looking forward to it,” Jonas said of the looming schedule.

“We have got a lot of depth and blokes who probably could be playing or deserve to get a run around and there’s every chance that opportunity will come.”

“It’s going to be a big challenge.”

Key defender Jonas said defenders and forwards would cope with the compressed fixture but midfielders might find it tougher.

“Down my (defensive) end, we’re more suited to it,” he said.

“But definitely in the middle of the ground where you’re competing really aggressively the whole time, it might be a bit tougher.

“But at the end of the day, it’s more mental than anything – once you’re out there you have got a job to do and you just want to compete and compete fiercely.”