EVERY AFL game is important. It's just some games are more important than others, such as this home-and-away closer against the Western Bulldogs in Melbourne in Friday Night Football.
Win - and Port Adelaide backs up last year's minor premiership with another top-two finish to earn a qualifying final at Adelaide Oval for the second consecutive season. The fixture masters at AFL House in Melbourne would be relieved considering the complications in finding venues with crowd access for the top-eight finals series while Victoria and New South Wales are in COVID-19 lockdowns.
Lose - and Port Adelaide will stay in the top four, but be put on the road, in a mystery tour to an uncertain location that could range from Hobart to Brisbane and even Perth, for a qualifying final against either Melbourne or Geelong.
More pressing in the fall-out of defeat at Marvel Stadium in west Melbourne would be the line: "Port Adelaide has not beaten a top-four side this season." It is a return to the start of the 2000s when Port Adelaide had to conquer the "chokers" tag to win the 2004 AFL premiership.
"Everyone has every right to throw that and talk about that," says Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley of the top-four niggle. "We can't deny that. We will be doing everything we can to stop it, but more importantly we will be doing everything we can to continue to build momentum going into the finals."
Port Adelaide plays the fourth-ranked Western Bulldogs for the second time this season after losing the round 9 fixture at Adelaide Oval by 19 points, after conceding a six-goal start and bringing the game back to one point at half-time.
For context - or new perspective for a new game - Port Adelaide was without lead ruckman Scott Lycett (suspended), midfield options Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma by injury and lost key defender Tom Clurey to injury during the battle.
This time, it is not just a different line-up but different possibilities with two ruckmen (Lycett and Peter Ladhams), four tall forwards (Ladhams, Charlie Dixon, Todd Marshall and Mitch Georgiades) and deeper midfield rotations with the growth of Willem Drew and Rising Star nominee Miles Bergman during the season.
The Western Bulldogs are tested by injury this time, in particular by the loss of key forward Josh Bruce to a season-ending knee injury. This has increased expectation - as a forward and ruckman - on Tim English.
While the make-up of the two pacesetting teams is different this time, the contrast in the two playbooks remains stark.
Port Adelaide is noted for seeking to lock the game in its forward half - and is now sounder for the intercept marking of defender Aliir Aliir when the play works away from Port Adelaide's half.
The Western Bulldogs continue to create space with a heavy focus on handball.
"We think the way we play and the way we defend or attack gives us an opportunity to win against all styles of football," Hinkley said. "You back in what you have to do. And that is what we will do again."
By this season's numbers, the Western Bulldogs average 158 handpasses in a match (compared with 149 at Port Adelaide) and rank No.2 for working the ball by hand (compared with Port Adelaide at No.9).
To set the tone of the game will require one team to dominate at contests - the ever-reliable barometer in Port Adelaide games. Last time, Port Adelaide lost the contested ball count and the clearances ... and the match while the Western Bulldogs gained so much from their usual sparks Marcus Bontempelli, the ever-busy Jack Macrae and Tom Liberatore. Port Adelaide's midfield options are stronger for this match by the burden on experienced duo Ollie Wines and Travis Boak spread to milestone man Karl Amon, Duursma, Butters, Connor Rozee, Drew and Bergman with Robbie Gray, Dan Houston and Steven Motlop on the magnets board too.
This change is not lost on Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge.
"We know how well Port Adelaide have been playing, and how formidable they have been in recent times," Beveridge said. "With some of their players coming back into that team and them moving towards what they consider their best mix, we’re coming up against a very, very good football side."
Across the season, Port Adelaide is winning more contested possessions than the Western Bulldogs (138 to 134) but ranks lower on stoppages (22 to 26).
So this pre-finals "final" is very important. In a season when Port Adelaide has searched for greatness - rather than just being good - the test of its merit in the premiership race rises another notch.
"We are about to get tested fully (in finals)," Hinkley said. "We will be tested to see if we can graduate to a level we feel confident we can perform at. The body of work we have delivered would suggest that we still have to pass the test (from being good to great).
"We think we are going and building in the right direction. Proof is in the pudding."
BIRD SEED
(the little stuff that counts most)
Where: Marvel Stadium, west Melbourne
When: Friday, August 20, 2021
Time: 7.20pm (SA time)
Last time: Port Adelaide 12.5 (77) lost to Western Bulldogs 15.6 (96) at Adelaide Oval, round 9, May 15 this year
Overall: Port Adelaide 17, Western Bulldogs 15
Past five games (most recent first): L W L W W
Scoring average: Port Adelaide 95, Western Bulldogs 95
Tightest margin - Port Adelaide by 12 points (94-82) at Princes Park, round 12, June 14, 1997; Western Bulldogs by three points (100-97) at Adelaide Oval, round 12, June 11, 2016.
Biggest margin - Port Adelaide by 86 points (147-61) at Marrara Oval, Darwin round 20, August 14, 2004; Western Bulldogs by 93 points (137-44) at Marrara Oval, round 12, June 13, 2009.
By venues - Adelaide Oval (4-3), Football Park (6-3), Princes Park (1-1), Docklands (2-4), Eureka Stadium, Ballarat (2-0), Marrara Oval (2-4).
By States and Territories - South Australia (10-6), Victoria (5-5), Northern Territory (2-4).
