PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley is backing the same key defensive trio - captain Tom Jonas, All-Australian nominee Aliir Aliir and the uncompromising Trent McKenzie - worked in round 13 against Geelong for Friday night's AFL qualifying final at Adelaide Oval.
However, the match-ups - in particular the rematch of McKenzie and 300-game milestone man Tom Hawkins after their grand duel in last year's qualifying final - remain to be decided moment by moment on Friday night.
"It is more about where Geelong put their forwards than what we do," Hinkley said of the prospect of a McKenzie-Hawkins match-up that was one of the highlights of last year's final won by Port Adelaide. "We will play where we need to play - and the positions we need to play. I suspect Trent will be standing alongside Tom Hawkins at some point, very early on in the contest."
Adelaide Oval's four scoreboards return to 0-0 on Friday night, but the pressure remains on the Port Adelaide defence to contain Geelong's new-look attack in the repeat AFL qualifying final.
After conceding its biggest score of the season - 112 points with Hawkins scoring four goals, Jeremy Cameron five and Gary Rohan three - in the round 13 clash with Geelong, Port Adelaide's defence will carry strong attention for its approach to quelling a proven goalscoring tandem.
"We have to be better ... games that happened 10 weeks ago, even two weeks ago, don't have that big relevance to what happens on Friday night," Hinkley said. "That test (against Geelong's powerful forwards) is there though.
"There are two incredibly talented tall people in that Geelong forward line (Hawkins and Cameron) who will make any side struggle at times. They are great players. Tom is playing his 300th game - and it is a great effort to get to that (milestone).
"Those challenges are real.
"We are a well-organised team; a well-drilled defensive team who can cope more often than not and have shown we can cope more often than not over the course of the season."
Port Adelaide's defence will be covered by a stronger midfield group, in particular with the strong form of novice Willem Drew working with All-Australian nominees Ollie Wines and Karl Amon and former captain Travis Boak.
"We are still growing our midfield," Hinkley said. "That got held up a little bit (with injuries during the mid-season). But we have certainly grown our midfield through the course of the season with Willem Drew being a great example.
"At some point Xavier Duursma will go through there as well. Miles Bergman can potentially go through there as well. We know about Zak Butters, Robbie Gray and Connor Rozee going through there.
"We have a lot of names who can potentially go through there, but they have not had a lot of experience in there."
Port Adelaide on Thursday evening will confirm the return of specialist forward Orazio Fantasia to replace taller forward Mitch Georgiades. Fantasia resumes after sitting out Friday's home-and-away closer against the Western Bulldogs at the Melbourne Docklands with hamstring tightness.
Georgiades is considered too risky with his hamstring soreness from last week's match.
"He is not right and the risk is not worth taking," Hinkley said of Georgiades before the captain's run training session at Adelaide Oval. "Clearly it is a massive game. We would love to have Mitch out there, but ... His scans are okay, he trained okay - not top end - so that made the decision easier for us."
Hinkley is confident Georgaides will be available for selection for the next final, be it a home preliminary final or home semi-final.
Port Adelaide's major gain for this final - when reflecting on the round 13 loss to Geelong at Adelaide Oval - is the presence of lead ruckman Scott Lycett who will work the ruck duties with Peter Ladhams. Lycett's absence last time - by suspension - forced key forward Charlie Dixon to support Ladhams in ruck.
"We have to produce (that advantage with Lycett and Ladhams); there is no secret that Scott Lycett is our No.1 ruck and has been now for three years," Hinkley said. "We love having him out there and that certainly, we hope, makes us a better side. But there is no guarantee in that."
Port Adelaide is considered a better-placed team for this year's finals series than last year when it fell short by a six-point preliminary final loss to eventual premier Richmond.
"It is so incredibly hard to win at this level at the end of the year," Hinkley said. "I have been in the game for a long, long time. I know how hard it is for us to get there. We have given ourselves a great chance, a great chance. We have earned that great chance - and we know the quality of the sides we are needing to beat now. They will step up - and we have to step up with them.
"But we are as well placed as any of the teams in the top eight to give ourselves a chance to win it.
"We are better prepared because we have been through this only 12 months ago. It was quite a young group last year that had their first chance of playing in finals for a period of time. They have experience now. They have done it. They have been through it. They understand it a little bit better. They are better prepared to understand what the challenges of finals will be.
"It is good that we have had that experience."
Port Adelaide's 1.8 first half against the Western Bulldogs on Friday - and recent slow starts - leaves the challenge to be sharper to avoid regrets in a high-pressure final.
"If we look over the form of the season, we have been pretty accurate when it comes to converting most of our chances," Hinkley said with the figures showing Port Adelaide's average score this season is 13.10.
"Last week was a bit of an outlier; 1.8 at half-time is a little unusual for most teams I would have thought. We are confident we do enough work on our goalkicking and our opportunity to put scoreboard pressure on if we get chances.
"The starts are what they are ... we have not played our best in the past two or three weeks at the start of games. If we give up a start to Geelong, we will be in trouble ... but we have proven we are a resilient team."
The qualifying final will start at 7.20pm.
