MITCH GEORGIADES will be back from injury and Orazio Fantasia is expected to be fine to play in Port Adelaide's preliminary final as the Power bolster their line-up with a Grand Final in sight.
Port is one win away from its first premiership decider since 2007 after comfortably accounting for Geelong in Friday night's qualifying final at Adelaide Oval by 43 points.
Fantasia booted four goals before being substituted out of the game in the final term with his nagging knee injury, but coach Ken Hinkley said the livewire forward would be fine in two weeks as the Power shoot to go one step further than last year.
"He gave it a knock and we weren't going to take a chance. He was complaining that it was a bit sore and we were in a position where we certainly weren't going to take that chance and we didn't need to," Hinkley said post-game.
"He's got two weeks so he's got plenty of time to get over that I'd imagine, but we'll see how he pulls up. It was a decision based around him being sore and we didn't need to take any more risks."
Fantasia was crucial to a well-functioning forward line, although Hinkley said it was too early to know how they would structure up when Georgiades returns from his hamstring strain, with tall targets Charlie Dixon, Peter Ladhams and Todd Marshall all playing their part.
"Mitch will be fine. He's been an incredible part of our team all the way through the year and it (playing four tall forwards) will be a decision that we have to make around what's right for us and the game and opposition that we play," he said.
The Power put in an aggressive, combative showing against the Cats to register their second-straight qualifying final victory over Geelong. It sets Port up for what is expected to be an Adelaide Oval preliminary final, with Hinkley acknowledging the importance of the win in the club's premiership push.
"It's big in the overall goal because we get the perfect preparation for what we would like. We haven't had the pre-finals bye, so this is a bye I feel like is a bonus and benefit to us, clearly," he said.
"It's probably what the old system looked like a little bit and now it works pretty favourably for us. We get to play at home again, we get to play after being a bit fresh. There's some risks with that but it's the perfect preparation in a tough, hard game of football and a bit of a rest."
