FOOTBALL clubs ultimately are measured at differing extremes. When their teams are successful, everyone judges a club by its humility. When their teams fail, the test is of the club's unity and strength amid adversity.

Port Adelaide on Thursday night measures itself against the defending and unbeaten AFL premier Melbourne at Adelaide Oval. Not since 2008 has Port Adelaide started an AFL campaign with a 0-4 win-loss count.

While the team searches for its first win after three differing losses to Brisbane, Hawthorn and Adelaide in the home-and-away series, there also will be a watch for how the club - internally and externally - deals with the challenge and the result, win, draw or loss. There will be a national free-to-air television audience this time.

Will Port Adelaide be admired for being calm and purposeful while working through a test that is far more than a judgment moment of senior coach Ken Hinkley? There is a vast difference between being ruthless and reckless.

In every decade since the 1940s, Port Adelaide has been worked over by a significant moment that - after putting its people through a dark tunnel - has made for a better and stronger football club. The winter of 1990 that dramatically changed (or confirmed the ambition of) the Port Adelaide Football Club - and South Australian and national football - quickly comes to mind.

As an anthem or mantra - Never Tear Us Apart - carries greater significance on Thursday night.  

So there is more than a football match to be played out at Adelaide Oval against Australia's oldest football club, the grand ol' Melbourne that last season ended a 57-year drought (or curse) to be champions again.

After an eight-year refit - and a few hiccups along the most-demanding path in Australian football - Melbourne has built a formidable line-up with almost perfect balance. The key pillars are among the game's best - defenders Steven May and Jake Lever; the ruck tandem of Max Gawn and Luke Jackson; the midfield engine that draws the Rolls Royce label with Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney and a firing attack with Tom McDonald, the opportunist Bailey Fritsch and the option of either Sam Weideman or Ben Brown.

Melbourne is an ultimate measuring stick.  

CHARACTER TEST

MANY statistics are on offer to stand in judgment of Port Adelaide today. A genuine litmus test for any ambitious team is the AFL premier.

Since the Hinkley era began in 2013, Port Adelaide has put itself to the test against the defending AFL premier 10 times in home-and-away contests. It has triumphed in nine of these significant on-field moments - and all of the past five.

Port Adelaide has stood up against AFL premiership units that were not in hangover mode - such as Hawthorn during its three-peat from 2013-2015. While Alastair Clarkson’s empire was standing on top of the mountain in 2015, Hinkley engineered two significant wins against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval and at the Docklands in west Melbourne while the pressure was on at Alberton.

Port Adelaide worked a match-appropriate game plan - the "dirty ball" tactics in the wet - to defuse the proven West Coast defence led by Shannon Hurn and the intercept master Jeremy McGovern in the new Perth Stadium when the West Australian powerhouse was defending its premiership in 2019.

History calls again.

"It would be a great result if we could do it again," says Hinkley as Port Adelaide prepares to seek its 10th win against a defending AFL premier under his watch. "We are an honest team. If we can call on history, we would like to call on that record ..."

AGAINST THE CHAMPS

Port Adelaide's record in home-and-away matches against the AFL defending premier since Ken Hinkley was senior coach from 2013.

2021 - Richmond

Beaten by Port Adelaide by two points at Adelaide Oval

2020 - Richmond

Beaten by Port Adelaide by 21 points at Adelaide Oval

2019 - West Coast

Beaten by Port Adelaide by 42 points at Perth Stadium

2018 - Richmond

Beaten by Port Adelaide by 14 points at Adelaide Oval

2017 - Western Bulldogs

Beaten by Port Adelaide by 17 points at Ballarat

2016 - Hawthorn

Defeated Port Adelaide by 22 points at Adelaide Oval

2015 - Hawthorn

Beaten by Port Adelaide by eight points at Adelaide Oval and 22 points at the Docklands

2014 - Hawthorn

Beaten by Port Adelaide by 14 points at Adelaide Oval

2013 - Sydney

Beaten by Port Adelaide by 18 points at Football Park

10 tests against the premier - nine wins, one loss

IN THE MIDDLE

AFTER the misleading numbers from the round 2 clash with Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval, the barometer became trustworthy in Showdown LI. The most-watched again is "contested possession" (lost 134-140 to Adelaide in the derby).

Every stoppage number - ruck hit-outs and hit-outs to advantage with Scott Lycett and Todd Marshall against Max Gawn and Luke Jackson, clearances, centre clearances, all clearances - will be red flags for Port Adelaide's test against the Melbourne midfield that challenges the Western Bulldogs for the best engine room in the 18-team league.

So how do Hinkley and his midfield coach Brett Montgomery deal with Petracca, Oliver, Viney and James Harmes - along with the ground covered or gained Ed Langdon and Angus Brayshaw?

If every Port Adelaide midfielder is acting as a shadow on a Melbourne rival, the game falls into a stalemate waiting for a mismatch, an injury or cracks.

"We are going to take them on," Hinkley said. "And we understand the size of the challenge. We also have good midfield depth to mix and match through there.

 "We have great faith in the people we have around the ball. They will give us an even look at the ball when we get our chance to play.

"The best teams in the competition have more than one midfielder (to watch as a game-breaking threat). And if you (lock down or tag) one, the others gets you. And, hopefully, it is the same for them (in dealing with Brownlow Medallist) Ollie Wines and Travis Boak. And Zak Butters. And Connor Rozee. And Willem Drew.

"We are not frightened by the names of the Melbourne midfielders."

Every contested ball denied to Melbourne, every stoppage taken from Melbourne has to be measured by an accurate score on entering the new-look forward-50 - and sounder team defence if spilled on the way to the goalfront where Port Adelaide will again work the Mitch Georgiades-Todd Marshall tandem. But there will not be experienced forward Robbie Gray nor All-Australian key forward Charlie Dixon forcing Port Adelaide to again be creative with its set-ups to work against the May-Lever partnership in the Melbourne defence.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

FOR those who thought - and still think - Port Adelaide was too ambitious when it put up its "Chasing Greatness" aspirations that includes the want for three premierships in five years, the final word goes to Liverpool Football Club legend Bill Shankly:

"Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor."

BIRD SEED

(the little stuff that counts most)

Where: Adelaide Oval

When: Thursday, April 7

Time: 7.10pm (SA time)

Last time: Port Adelaide 8.7 (55) lost to Melbourne 12.14 (86) at Adelaide Oval, round 17, July 8 last year

Overall: Port Adelaide 22, Melbourne 14

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

Scoring average: Port Adelaide 94, Melbourne 82

Tightest margin - Port Adelaide by three points (72-69) at Adelaide Oval, round 18, July 20, 2014; Melbourne by one point (111-110) at Marrrara Oval, Darwin, round 9, May 22, 2010.

Biggest margin - Port Adelaide by 89 points (163-74) at Football Park, round 17, July 29, 2007; Melbourne by 53 points (124-71) at the MCG, round 4, April 17, 2004.

By venues - Adelaide Oval (3-2); Football Park (11-2); MCG (3-8); Marrara Oval, Darwin (1-2); Traeger Park, Alice Springs (3-0); Gabba (1-0).

By States and territories - SA: 14-4; Victoria: 3-8; Northern Territory: 4-2; Queensland: 1-0.

PORT ADELAIDE cannot hide from the horror of its 32-point loss to AFL premier Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night - or all the work and scrutiny that is to follow.

The statistical note of winning the second half, by outscoring Melbourne by four behinds (4.6 to 4.2), to avoid a complete collapse serves as a meaningful consolation. But the big questions posed just before half-time will overshadow the finish.

At 0-4, Port Adelaide has made its worst start to an AFL season since 2008 when the scars of a hefty grand final loss seven months earlier remained raw. Now the question of what a preliminary final defeat at home in September last year has done to this promising team will become more repetitive.

Waiting until the 23rd minute of the third term for its first goal of an AFL game rewrites the record books for Port Adelaide. But it reaffirms just how costly the absence of Charlie Dixon and Robbie Gray from the Port Adelaide goal front has become - and how some players are harder to replace than others, even when building a deep squad.

Such bruising notes are at the extreme to all that Port Adelaide had intended on a night when standing strong and firm against the national league premier would have sent reassuring signals to a frustrated fan base and a curious AFL world looking deeply at Alberton.

Port Adelaide was its own worst enemy so often with ball-handling errors, decision-making gaffes and a costly fade-out during the latter 15 minutes of the second term when Melbourne kicked five unanswered goals to end a tense contest by quickly crafting a 36-point lead at half-time.

For the first time since gaining promotion to the AFL in 1997, Port Adelaide completed a first half without a goal. This might have been different had midfielder Zak Butters not conceded a free kick after the siren in the goal square while key forward Todd Marshall lined up a set shot from outside 50.

The 0.5 at half-time marks Port Adelaide's lowest score in a first half since the 1.2 (8) against Collingwood at Football Park in round 20, 2011. Port Adelaide's (inaccurate) final score of 4.12 (36) avoided rewriting the club's lowest score in AFL company that remains 3.3 (21) from this 2011 clash with Collingwood.

Half back Dan Houston finally turned Port Adelaide's goal tumbler on the old scoreboard to 1 at 22:15 of the third term after taking a hand pass from Sam Powell-Pepper in the south-west pocket.

It was the smoothest movement in attack for a team that increasingly stumbled in setting up its forward sorties.

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The tell-tale sign of a team with eroding surety was noted 10 minutes earlier when key forward Mitch Georgiades became confused with his best option to breaking Port Adelaide's goal drought. From taking possession at the top of the 50-metre arc to running to the goal square, Georgiades lacked the confidence to kick - and his handball to team-mate Sam Mayes finished with Mayes' hasty kick at the top of the goal square being touched by Melbourne rival James Jordan.

Port Adelaide's second goal - at the 18th minute of the last term - was a stark contrast to the set play orchestrated by Houston and Powell-Pepper. Georgiades had to battle to get his boot to the ball bubbling at his feet after Marshall had kicked long to the northern goal square.

The third goal - in the 24th minute of the final term - was finished with haste but precision by the opportunist Steven Motlop and repeated by Motlop (on the handball assist of Marshall) for the fourth goal in the 29th minute.

Port Adelaide's mission to stand up to Melbourne's elite midfield was dented at half-time with Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines subbed out with nausea.

The curse against Port Adelaide's big men also deepened on Thursday night with lead ruckman Scott Lycett taking to the bench midway through the second term with concern for his right shoulder. He persisted, with a strapped shoulder, in an absorbing contest with All-Australian Max Gawn.

How Port Adelaide would present after the heavy disappointment of losing Showdown LI on a kick after the siren last Friday was answered very early. The spirit of this team that is under intense scrutiny was evident from the eagerness for the contest - as perfectly noted by the hectic pressure applied to the Melbourne midfielders who were pinned in a handball game in front of the SACA members' stand midway through the first term.

Captain Tom Jonas had set the example with his determination to put everything into every contest, particularly those in the air. His dramatic spoil - against the flight of the ball - to kill a Melbourne sortie at the Riverbank end in the 11th minute of the second term underlined the skipper's clear intent.

At that stage it was a five-point game with only one goal scored by both teams across 40 minutes of tense football. But the resistance led by Jonas was at its limit - and being tested by a lack of scoreboard presence, ball-handling errors and turnovers when Port Adelaide slipped or mistimed their kicks. During the next 15 minutes, Melbourne took this lead to 36 with an unanswered run of five goals from Bayley Fritsch, Tom McDonald, Jack Viney, James Harmes and Ed Langdon.

Port Adelaide again worked the tandem of Marshall and Georgiades as the major targets inside-50, along with smaller and very active Mayes around the goal square - and often in space at the top of the goal square. (Mayes even took up the challenge of rucking against Melbourne premiership captain Max Gawn, despite conceding 22 centimetres at a boundary throw-in in front of the old scoreboard during the second term).

Again (as in the home-opener against Hawthorn in round two) there was no goal in the first term, just three behinds - two from wingman Karl Amon and the other from defender Ryan Burton. The minimal efficiency from 16 inside-50 entries in the first quarter will bring more attention on the movement and leading patterns of the Port Adelaide forwards - and the delivery to these would-be goal scorers.

The absence of All-Australian key forward Dixon (by an ankle injury) denies Port Adelaide the towering target who can claim a contested mark when the ball is sent long and strong to the goalmouth to work over the opposition defensive screens.

The strength of the Melbourne set-ups arounds key defender Steven May does - as former vice-captain Hamish Hartlett noted on radio on Friday - require the Port Adelaide midfielders to "lower the eyes" to find opportune targets.

Port Adelaide's stocks of key position players took pre-game hits with the news of Dixon having more surgery on his injured ankle and much-battered defender Trent McKenzie falling out of the line-up with a knee injury. McKenzie's absence ushered Miles Bergman into the 22 for his first game of the season, after recuperating from off-season shoulder surgery; and the rise to Port Adelaide ranks of former North Melbourne vice-captain Trent Dumont as the medical substitute.

PORT ADELAIDE v MELBOURNE

Port Adelaide       0.3     0.5   1.8   4.12 (36)

Melbourne           1.3       6.6   9.7   10.8 (68)

BEST - Port Adelaide: Jonas, Clurey, Drew, Boak, Burton.

GOALS - Port Adelaide: Motlop 2, Georgiades, Powell-Pepper.

INJURY - Trent McKenzie (knee, replaced in line-up by Miles Bergman); Wines (nausea).

MEDICAL SUBSTITUTE: Trent Dumont (activated at half-time for Ollie Wines).

CROWD: 23,058 at Adelaide Oval.

NEXT: Carlton at the MCG on Easter Sunday.