MEASURE yourself against the best.

Port Adelaide certainly will be doing such during the next month when it has a four-game block that replicates every AFL team's wish in September - a solid month of rising challenges. It starts for Port Adelaide against AFL premier Melbourne at Traeger Park in Alice Springs.

This game - followed by clashes with Geelong, Collingwood and Richmond - will have Port Adelaide measured against the best in the AFL today and the best of recent seasons.

It is time to see how Port Adelaide (currently 12th, 8-8) stacks up.

Or, as Martin Luther King said (without a sporting context): "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Port Adelaide has had no moment of comfort since falling to a worst-ever start of 0-5. But it has responded with an 8-3 record in the past 11 weeks (the equivalent of half a regulation home-and-away season).

By contrast, Melbourne started with a 10-0 defence of its hard-earned AFL premiership. It has a 2-4 win-loss record since that flying start with losses to fellow top-eight teams: Fremantle, Sydney, Collingwood and last week to Geelong at Kardinia Park.

The script has certainly changed since Port Adelaide and Melbourne last met for Thursday night football at Adelaide Oval in round 4.

"They are a completely different side - and they are playing a completely different style to when we met them earlier in the year. A very fast style of footy, a very exciting brand of footy. And their good players are playing some really strong footy. They are going to test us in a whole range of different areas."

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin on Port Adelaide

Key differences for the rematch are:

RUCK: Port Adelaide is compelled (by the setback to lead ruckman Scott Lycett) to persist with the Jeremy Finlayson-Charlie Dixon combination against Melbourne's imposing ruck pair of Max Gawn and Luke Jackson.Dixon was missing last time out, having spent the opening 10 rounds of the season out dealing with an ankle injury. Lycett dislocated his shoulder in that game and has not played at AFL level since.

MIDFIELD: Port Adelaide last time ended up with Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines subbed out after quarter time and in hospital having had a heart scare. This time is also has Connor Rozee in the starting rotations - after he was working in attack (to cover the holes created by the loss through injury of Robbie Gray, Orazio Fantasia and Charlie Dixon).

Melbourne is without Clayton Oliver (fractured thumb), but still has the challenging trio of Christian Petracca, Jack Viney and James Harmes.

Does Oliver's absence settle the debate on which Melbourne midfielder - say Petracca - becomes the focus of Port Adelaide minder Willem Drew?

"Willem has done different jobs through the year ... but it won't be just Drew v Petracca (that settles the midfield battle)," Port Adelaide football chief Chris Davies said. "It will be a group (Ollie Wines, Travis Boak, Connor Rozee and Karl Amon from Port Adelaide) versus a group.

"Drew has done fantastic run-with roles. But we are also keen to see him continue to break and spread which he has done well during the past couple of weeks."

DEFENCE: Against the Demons in Round 4, Port Adelaide was without All-Australian Aliir Aliir. Reliable backman Trent McKenzie also missed, having had knee surgery and Tom Clurey was rushed back, potentially a week earlier than he would have liked following his own knee procedure.

ATTACK: Much was made of how Port Adelaide tried to work utility Sam Mayes - rather than key forward Todd Marshall - against Melbourne key defender Steven May at Adelaide Oval in round 4. Now, it is a very different Todd Marshall leading the Port Adelaide attack with Mitch Georgiades, Robbie Gray, Sam Powell-Pepper and the midfielders such as Zak Butters who rotate through the zone.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has picked up the theme of his team being measured in the lead-up to Sunday's clash with Port Adelaide at Traeger Park in Alice Springs. Smarting from the loss to new AFL leader Geelong, Goodwin is striving to get his premiership team to respond.

"The challenge is right before us as a footy club," Goodwin said this week. "We have a lot of work to do; a lot of improvement ... the challenge is right before our playing group and our football department."

Port Adelaide has been in this space for 12 weeks now.

Port Adelaide's eagerness for the challenge of being measured against the AFL's premiership team is impressive during Ken Hinkley's time at Alberton: WON 9, LOST 4.  

Since 2013, Port Adelaide's record against the defending AFL premier is:

2013 - BEAT Sydney by 18 points at Football Park

2014 - BEAT Hawthorn by 14 points at Adelaide Oval

             LOST to Hawthorn by three points at the MCG (preliminary final)

2015 - BEAT Hawthorn by eight points at Adelaide Oval

            BEAT Hawthorn by 22 points at the Docklands

2016 - LOST to HAWTHORN by 22 points at Adelaide Oval

2017 - BEAT the Western Bulldogs by 17 points at Ballarat

2018 - BEAT Richmond by 14 points at Adelaide Oval

2019 - BEAT West Coast by 42 points at Perth Stadium

2020 - BEAT Richmond by 21 points at Adelaide Oval

             LOST to Richmond by six points at Adelaide Oval (preliminary final)

2021 - BEAT Richmond by two points at Adelaide Oval

2022 - LOST to Melbourne by 32 points at Adelaide Oval

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

PORT ADELAIDE has a 3-8 win-loss record against Melbourne at the MCG. It is 3-0 in Port Adelaide's favour at Traeger Park, Alice Springs - the "home away from home" for Melbourne this weekend.

The engineers have measured Traeger Park at 175 metres long and 135 metres wide. So, it is a little longer than Adelaide Oval (167 metres) and a bit wider (124). It also is longer than the MCG (173 metres) but not as wide as the cricket ground (148 metres).

There have been seven AFL games played at Traeger Park since 2014 - all as Melbourne home games.

Port Adelaide has scored well against the backdrop of MacDonnell Ranges at Alice Springs, averaging 110 points in the three matches that were played before Melbourne had the Steven May-Jake Lever combination in defence.

From the last Melbourne-Port Adelaide game played at Traeger Park - in round 10, 2016 - Port Adelaide has Karl Amon, Travis Boak, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Charlie Dixon, Robbie Gray and Ollie Wines returning to Alice Springs.

DEFENCE RULES

EVERYONE knows how Melbourne invites opponents into its trap with key defenders Steven  May and Jake Lever eager to take intercept marks - a theme that has tested midfielders in how they approach the attacking 50-metre arc.

"There is a healthy balance (between putting speed on the ball movement to catch the Melbourne defence out of shape - and working with slower, more measured entries inside the forward-50 arc)," says Port Adelaide midfielder Connor Rozee.

"You just can't go crazy from the start of the game and think everything is going to be perfect all the way through. There are times when we will take the game on and go quick - when they don't have extra defenders behind the ball. But we also cannot bomb it down there when (ruckman) Max Gawn and Lever are sitting there.

"There is a healthy balance. Hopefully, we can find that."

It is now more than six years since any Port Adelaide team has broken the watershed 100-point barrier against Melbourne (121 points in round 10, 2016 in the clubs' last meeting at Traeger Park, Alice Springs). Since then, Port Adelaide has had scores of 54 points (in the rematch at Adelaide Oval in 2016), 75, 87, 83, 55 and 36 (with no goal before half-time in the most recent game at Adelaide Oval in round 4).

But Melbourne's ability to crack the ton against Port Adelaide goes back even further - to that first AFL game at the old Adelaide Oval in 2011 when Port Adelaide avoided the wooden spoon despite conceding 15.14 (104) to Melbourne.

Since then, Melbourne has been held to scores ranging from 32 points at the Gabba in the shortened games of 2020 to 94 points at Adelaide Oval in round 21, 2016.

BAROMETER NUMBERS

PORT ADELAIDE'S scouts did not need to report the key themes at Melbourne training this week - the agenda was obvious from the AFL premier's fall to Geelong at Kardinia Park last week.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin put it all on the table saying: "There's no question we got a good touch-up in stoppage and clearance and we ended up having to deal with a lot of territory loss."

The statistical comparison between the teams on the key "barometer" figures reveals:

CONTESTED BALL: Melbourne has an impressive appetite for the contest with a 145 average on contested possession (Port Adelaide is 137).

CLEARANCES: Port Adelaide has - for all the ruck changes during the season - won more clearances than Melbourne this season with a 37.8 average compared to the Petracca-Oliver-Viney numbers of 36.6.

INSIDE-50s: Melbourne averages 57 entries to its forward arc. Port Adelaide is at 52.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Todd is an outstanding character. Not only on the field ... he is our most selfless player. When everyone was having a go at him, there were so many edits (of the match vision) that we would go through to see Todd was helping someone else to make them a better player - even when he was not playing so good.

"Todd has been so good - and he is one of our most-loved characters because of that selfless approach to his team-mates. I am really happy to see him doing well. The whole club is right behind him and it is nice to see some positive comments about him finally. He deserves it. He works really hard and is a great, loveable guy."

Connor Rozee on Todd Marshall

BIRD SEED

(the little stuff that counts most)

Where: Traeger Park, Alice Springs

When: Sunday, July 17, 2022

Time: 2.50pm (SA time)

Last time: Port Adelaide 4.12 (36) l Melbourne 10.8 (68) at Adelaide Oval, round 4,  April 7 this year

Overall: Port Adelaide 22, Melbourne 15

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

Scoring average: Port Adelaide 92, 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 (3-3); 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: 14-5; Victoria: 3-8; Northern Territory: 4-2; Queensland: 1-0.

PORT Adelaide struggled to score against Melbourne at the start of their round four encounter at Adelaide Oval. The rematch in Alice Springs on Sunday turned the script upside down.

The end result from such disappearing acts, however, is the same. Port Adelaide's loss by 14 points is made more flattering than the 32-point loss at Adelaide Oval by the three-goal rush in time-on of the last term at Traeger Park.

But the consequences of allowing the AFL premier to go on a seven-goal run at the back of the third term and the start of the final quarter is to put spikes on Port Adelaide's tightrope path to September's top-eight finals.

Port Adelaide started this round 18 game with earlier results (in particular North Melbourne beating eighth-ranked Richmond by four points on Saturday) narrowing the once long bridge from the bottom 10 to the top eight.

A day that began with Port Adelaide ranked 12th and one win off eight spot ended with the rise to 11th (while Gold Coast was losing to Essendon) and percentage falling to 106.9.

This leaves no change to the big picture - Port Adelaide still needs to find four wins from its remaining five home-and-away matches that continue with another major test next weekend with the home clash with Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

MG MVP | Vote for your best afield against Melbourne

But this game in Australia's Red Centre - where Port Adelaide had beaten Melbourne in the three earlier encounters - leaves another chapter in Port Adelaide's long book of missed opportunities in Season 2022. At times, Port Adelaide measured up against the AFL premier. It simply did not do it for long enough - and probably without enough dare to make Melbourne feel vulnerable to falling to its fifth loss in the past seven weeks.

A game with eight lead changes finally found its definitive script late in the third term. Melbourne built momentum with three consecutive goals (two from the ever-exciting Kysaiah Pickett who finished with 6.1) to have a 10-point lead at three quarter-time. Not even the break stymied Melbourne's push to victory with the momentum swing also delivering the first four goals of the last term that set up a match-high lead of 31 points .

Between Miles Bergman's second goal that gave Port Adelaide a nine-point lead at the 10th minute of the third term to Travis Boak's second goal at the start of time-on of the last quarter, Melbourne scored seven unanswered goals.

Game lost - and not even the three goals during time-on of the last term take away the question of why Port Adelaide faded after doing all the hard work to set up a critical win.

Last time, at Adelaide Oval in round four, Melbourne held Port Adelaide to no goal in the first half.

This time, Port Adelaide held Melbourne to no goal in an opening quarter - the first team to do such during Melbourne's premiership defence and for the first time since 2020 (when Port Adelaide did the same in round nine).

For those from boxing circles, the first term would be described as "two fighters feeling each other out". The high count of uncontested marks from both teams highlighted a game needing one side to take control of the agenda - and score.

Melbourne, as has been a trend in recent weeks, struggled to load up its key forwards such as Ben Brown until late in the third term. It had become heavily reliant on the opportunist ways of Pickett, whose six goals were the treat of a match that for too often lacked too much.

Port Adelaide, taking note of the lessons from the Thursday night encounter with the AFL premier in April, valued every possession while searching for the best way to unravel the Melbourne defence that thrives on chances to intercept forward-50 entries. In many ways it was too methodical and not enterprising enough.

Such a low-scoring opening on a sun-bathed Traeger Park - where there was no limiting factor from the weather (24C, no chance of rain) to stop any goal rush - was surprising considering the talent on the field. But playbooks, high stakes in a game that would shape the race to September's finals and lessons from an earlier encounter at the skinnier Adelaide Oval weighed heavily on this match.

It took 18 minutes and 27 seconds for the goal umpires (after signalling five behinds) to work both flags to recognise Port Adelaide midfielder Travis Boak running from a stoppage outside 50 to kick over the well-noted Melbourne defensive wall.

Four times in the first 10 minutes the Melbourne defence led by Steven May, who commands the league's No. 1 unit for intercept marks, chopped off Port Adelaide's carefully constructed passages through the midfield. The need to make inside-50s count on the scoreboard rather than the Champion Data sheets became Port Adelaide's biggest challenge - so did scoring goals rather than behinds when Melbourne's defence was caught off side by turnovers.

Port Adelaide's nine-point lead was built on goals from Boak and key forward Todd Marshall, again from a set shot after winning a one-on-one marking contest against Adam Tomlinson - and the Port Adelaide midfield honouring the hard work of makeshift ruckmen Charlie Dixon and Jeremy Finlayson against Melbourne's premiership duo of Max Gawn and Luke Jackson.

At half-time - despite Melbourne holding the advantage on hit-outs (19-12) - Port Adelaide's midfield unit was meeting the challenge of working to losing rucks and against an elite Melbourne stoppage unit by winning centre clearances (7-4) and all clearances (24-12). The scoreboard, however, had Melbourne leading by four points.

At the end, the numbers were mocked by the scoreboard. Melbourne, as expected, won the hit-outs 32-17. Port Adelaide won the centre clearances 13-11, despite the powerful work of Melbourne midfielder Christian Petracca stepping up to cover the absence by injury of Clayton Oliver. Port Adelaide won all clearances 40-26. It had more disposals than Melbourne, 407-350 (highlighting the want to keep the ball from the Melbourne players). It even won that well-known barometer of contested possession, only just 125-124 - and had more inside-50s (55-49).

The Port Adelaide midfielders were even making the clearances count as goals, particularly off their own boots with Boak, wingman Miles Bergman, shadow man Willem Drew and onballer Connor Rozee all scoring goals.

Of Port Adelaide's 10 goals, six were kicked by midfielders - exactly the same amount put on the scoreboard by Melbourne's opportunist forward Kysaiah Pickett.

Dixon opened the centre ruck duel against Gawn. He finished with 11 hit-outs while again giving everything while mixing the demands to be physically imposing against Gawn (18 hit-outs) and posing a threat in attack where he scored one goal (on a 50-metre penalty condeded by Gawn).

Key forward Todd Marshall was - again - Port Adelaide's most-effective forward. He finished with two goals. He needed those around him to join the scoring rush.

Marshall's reputation for seeing opportunity - where others think there is a dead end - and his commitment to support his team-mates makes for another highlight in the team review at Alberton. Midway through the second term, after the ball had spilled from Mitch Georgiades in a marking contest towards the boundary line, Marshall ignored the option of a set play from a boundary throw-in from a forward pocket to deliver a sharp handpass to team-mates Miles Bergman. The kick from a sharp angle - for Port Adelaide's fourth goal - was the appropriate reward for being bold where others would have opted for the boundary.

If only such spirit had spilled over more often to have Port Adelaide score more than 10 goals ... even against the AFL's most-demanding defence.

MELBOURNE v PORT ADELAIDE

PORT ADELAIDE      2.1      5.3      7.6       10.9 (69)

MELBOURNE            0.4      5.7       8.10    12.11 (83)

BEST - Port Adelaide: Boak, Rozee, Bergman, Amon, Dixon, Drew.

GOALS: Port Adelaide: Bergman, Boak, Marshall 2, Dixon, Drew, Finlayson, Rozee.  

INJURY - Nil.

MEDICAL SUBSTITUTE: Jase Burgoyne (not activated)

CROWD: 6312 at Traeger Park, Alice Springs

NEXT: Geelong at Adelaide Oval, Saturday (4.05pm start)