Port Adelaide's longest winning streak against any AFL rival is still a work in progress against Gold Coast, 11 victories and counting - and Robbie Gray has been there for nine of them.

On Saturday afternoon at the Gold Coast's Carrara base, the progressive count should extend to 12 for Port Adelaide and 10 for Gray in his 250th AFL milestone match.

At the start of the game - 1.15pm, Adelaide time - Gray might note there is no-one on the team sheet as a player who was there at the beginning on June 3, 2007 at Football Park when Port Adelaide played Hawthorn.

Chad Cornes remains, as the team runner. David Rodan has moved on to become an AFL goal umpire. Shaun Burgoyne is at Hawthorn.

From that 2007 Port Adelaide AFL squad, there will be just Travis Boak and Hamish Hartlett running on the field as team-mates this weekend ...

This landmark moment - the fifth 250-game milestone for a Port Adelaide player in the AFL - would have happened sooner had so much of Season 2012 not been lost to a knee injury late in the clash with Collingwood on the indoor deck at Melbourne's Docklands arena.

And Gray's masterpiece in Australian football also remains a work in progress despite individual honours of four All-Australian selections (2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018); three club champion John Cahill Medals (2014, 2015 and 2016); five Showdown Medals (2010, 2015, the double in 2018 and 2019) and the AFL coaches' choice as the best player of Season 2014.

"I just hope he gets the team success he is craving," says Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley.

Team win No. 129 is on the agenda this weekend when Gray has - in his way - avoided the limelight to leave his football to speak for him and his immaculate path to the 250 Club that includes Kane Cornes, Warren Tredrea, Boak and Justin Westhoff in the AFL books.

"There are so many Robbie moments ... we just love watching Robbie play," adds Hinkley whose team staff would not have been short of golden moments to splice into a motivational and celebratory highlights reel for the pre-match at Carrara. The match-winning goal after the siren from the boundary at the Gabba against Carlton last season, the collect from ruckman Patrick Ryder at a boundary contest at Adelaide Oval to score the winning goal against St Kilda in 2017, the five goals in the third quarter of Showdown XLIV in 2018 ...

No-one has questions of how Gray plays or how he will be remembered in halls of fame.

But there are questions on how Port Adelaide is playing this season and where the 2021 campaign - designed to chase greatness - will end.

A win against 15th-ranked Gold Coast would be met with the quite appropriate conclusion: "That is exactly what Port Adelaide should do if it wants to be considered a top-four contender - and more - this season."

So this round 14 clash in south-east Queensland is about how Port Adelaide plays - how Hinkley's team hones the "Port Adelaide way".

"We want to work on the contest (side of the game)," says Port Adelaide midfielder-defender Dan Houston of the well-noted barometer that accurately measures the "Port Adelaide way".

"We think that is our key backbone to our game. And that is what we will be working on.

"We want to see our ball movement and hitting the scoreboard be our pass mark (against Gold Coast) - strong at the contest and then being able to hit the scoreboard and move the ball inside-50 really well."

Lead ruckman Scott Lycett returns to the Port Adelaide line-up after a five-week, four-game, tribunal-enforced absence to strengthen the midfield agenda - and the chase for that highly effective transition from defence to an open attack that drew so many admirers at the start of the season.

"We had a big session (on Thursday) focusing on transitioning the ball from half-back to the forward line," Lycett said. "We were really good at the start of the year. We have then focused on other areas and we have had guys (midfielders Xavier Duursma, Zak Butters and Tom Rockliff) go out of the side - Duursma and Butters have a lot to do with our ball movement and how we get the ball going forward.

"It would be nice to be consistently good in that area for the whole year, but teams figure you out and work ways to stop you."

How Port Adelaide unravels those blockers will be a key part of the analysis of this game and those that follow as Hinkley seeks from his team a momentum-building drive to September's top-eight finals.

BIRD SEED

(the little stuff that counts most)

Where: Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

When: Saturday, June 18, 2021

Time: 1.15pm (SA time)

Last time: Port Adelaide 10.16 (76) d Gold Coast 4.5 (29) at Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast, round 1, March 21, 2020

Overall: Port Adelaide 11, Gold Coast 1

Past five games (most recent first): W W W W W

Scoring average: Port Adelaide 97, Gold Coast 57

Tightest winning margin - Port Adelaide by nine points (56-47) at Gold Coast in round 21, August 16, 2014; Gold Coast by three points (104-101) at Football Park, round 5, April 23, 2011.

Biggest winning margin - Port Adelaide by 115 points (135-20) at Adelaide Oval, round 23, August 26, 2017; Gold Coast by three points (104-101) at Football Park, round 5, April 23, 2011.

By venues - Adelaide Oval (2-0), Football Park (1-1), Metricon Stadium (6-0), Jiangwan Stadium, Shanghai (2-0).

By States - South Australia (3-1), Queensland (6-0), China (2-0).

A KNEE injury to Port Adelaide champion Robbie Gray has taken the gloss off its comfortable 50-point triumph over lacklustre Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

Playing in his 250th game, Gray left the field during the second quarter of the 12.9 (81) to 4.7 (31) victory with what was later diagnosed as a medial strain.

Lachie Jones also suffered a hamstring injury during the third term, but the four premiership points was well in hand in the one-sided contest. 

Port was as professional as you'd want from a premiership fancy, never giving the disappointing Suns a look-in, leading by 15 points at quarter-time, 34 at the half and 58 at the final change. 

Ollie Wines had a massive day out, gathering 44 disposals to miss Peter Burgoyne's club record, set in 2008, by a solitary touch.

He led a team that worked harder and worked smarter than Gold Coast. 

Connor Rozee (three goals from 19 touches) continued the dynamic form he recaptured last week, while Aliir Aliir and Steven Motlop were also crucial contributors.

After Ben King kicked the opening goal of the game, Port took charge, punishing turnovers from the home team with swift ball movement. 

Motlop was fantastic, revelling in open space, gathering 26 disposals to go with two goals. He also gave a handpass to Jarrod Lienert for his first AFL goal in his 20th career game, much to the delight of his teammates.

Motlop's willingness to run hard summed up the difference between the teams, as once the ball left congestion the wave of options Port had was staggering.

In contrast, any time the Suns went forward either Aliir – vying with Wines for best afield honours - or Trent McKenzie were there to cut it off. 

Just seven days after coach Stuart Dew lamented his team's inability to make Fremantle work for its victory, Gold Coast again was well off the pace.

Rozee red-hot again

Fresh off kicking five goals in his last start against Geelong, Connor Rozee was at it again. Not only was he dangerous in attack, kicking three goals from 19 disposals, but his work-rate without the ball would have thrilled Ken Hinkley. A rundown tackle on Noah Anderson in the second quarter led to a Karl Amon goal, while his full-length smother of an Oleg Markov kick led to another shot at goal. 

Suns a long way off it

Gold Coast was terrible against a depleted Fremantle seven days ago – it was even worse this week. Just as they did against the Dockers, the Suns' work-rate away from the contest was below par, allowing Port to find uncontested men all over the ground. Equally as troubling was when they had ball in hand, referring pressure to stationary teammates with backwards handballs and then missing targets repeatedly by foot when going forward. Next Saturday's match against North Melbourne in Hobart suddenly looms as critical to the trajectory of Gold Coast's season.

Aliir continues a brilliant season

Already seen as one of the great off-season acquisitions, former Swan Aliir Aliir enhanced his reputation again with a dominant display. Whether Port Adelaide orchestrated its defence to use him as a spare man or he just beat his opponent directly, Aliir constantly thwarted the Suns with his aggressive ball-hunting. He finished with 12 intercepts from 20 disposals and had five score involvements.

GOLD COAST             1.0       2.1       2.4       4.7 (31)

PORT ADELAIDE      3.3       7.5       11.8     12.9 (81)

  
GOALS   
Gold Coast: King 2, Bowes, Sexton
Port Adelaide: Rozee 3, Dixon 2, Georgiades 2, Motlop 2, Lienert, Amon, Lycett

  
BEST   
Gold Coast: Miller, Anderson, Powell, Lukosius
Port Adelaide: Wines, Motlop, Aliir, Amon, Drew, Houston    

INJURIES   
Gold Coast: Collins (ankle, replaced in selected side by Graham); Swallow (concussion)
Port Adelaide: Gray (knee); Jones (hamstring)

SUBSTITUTES   
Gold Coast: Fiorini (replaced Swallow)

Port Adelaide: Hartlett (replaced Gray)