Weekend off after earning direct passage to the AFL preliminary final on Saturday, September 11?

Not quite.

There is a busy agenda at Alberton on Saturday - from training of the AFL squad to a large crew of players keeping up selection pressure by their form in the SANFL home-and-away season closer against Glenelg.

Port Adelaide lead ruckman Scott Lycett - preparing for his third preliminary final since 2018 - expects more than AFL finals spots to drive a strong work ethic at training on Saturday morning and an epic performance in the SANFL on Saturday afternoon.

Port Adelaide will seek to deny Glenelg, in its centenary season, to stand alongside "The Invincibles" of 1914 who gave Port Adelaide an unbeaten SANFL home-and-away series across 12 games.

"Hopefully, those boys can all have 30 (disposals) and kick five (goals) and really put the pressure on the coaches," Lycett said at Alberton on Friday. "It is a good problem to have. To get to finals with a healthy list, plus players in form in the twos, really drives the guys in the seniors - they know they have to perform to keep their spots.

"So hopefully (the SANFL players) can go out there to give Glenelg their first loss for the year."

In the AFL, Port Adelaide awaits the winner of Saturday night's Brisbane-Western Bulldogs semi-final at the Gabba. And Lycett, a premiership winner with West Coast in 2018, does not want a repeat of last year's six-point heartbreak in a home preliminary final against eventual AFL premier Richmond.

"Luckily, we played in the preliminary final last year - so many of our players have that experience; everyone understands the pressure and the importance of the preliminary final," Lycett said. 

"I feel our resilience has grown from that loss (to Richmond) - and we don't want that feeling again. We have put ourselves in the best position to be there again and, hopefully, we can prove some doubters wrong.

"You have to go through everyone to win the premiership, so it does not matter who is there (in the preliminary final next weekend). As long as I can play my role and perform the way I know I can, then it does not matter (who is the opposition team and opposing ruckman).

"It is always different with every group you are part of," added Lycett of the comparison with West Coast's rise to the flag in 2018. "Every year it changes. From 2018 to this year, everyone at West Coast was married and had kids - and only a handful of guys are in that boat here at Port Adelaide. It is a young group - and a lot more vibrant with the energy of the younger guys driving the older guys.

"It is different ... but finals (at any club at any time) are always a special feeling."

Port Adelaide has AFL qualifying final medical substitute Sam Powell-Pepper in the SANFL line-up, along with Rising Star forward Mitch Georgiades who has passed fitness tests on the hamstring strained against the Western Bulldogs in the AFL home-and-away closer at the Docklands last month.

The SANFL line-up also regains vice-captain Hamish Hartlett (knee) and fellow defender Lachie Jones (ankle) and retains key defender Tom Clurey, Jarrod Lienert, Boyd Woodcock and Sam Mayes.

The selection options before senior coach Ken Hinkley are at their deepest at the right time of the year.

And there is the question of how selection becomes influenced by the opponent, Brisbane or the Western Bulldogs?

"You want that selection pressure," Lycett said of the blessing on the Port Adelaide whiteboard at match committee meetings next week. "It makes you strive to get better. It will be interesting ... I am looking forward to (selection) as much as anyone."

The inevitable question in the lead-up to the preliminary final will be the mix of forwards and use of two ruckmen, Lycett and the goalkicking Peter Ladhams.

"The team - not just myself - benefits from having 'Pistol' (Ladhams) in the team," Lycett said. "When he goes into the ruck there is no drop off in the ruck (output). Whereas when Charlie Dixon is in there, he might be unable to jump in harder or follow up because he could be spent (from his work as a key forward). With 'Pistol' there is no drop off and it makes it a lot harder for opposition teams to scout us.

"In the past when we have had Todd Marshall and Charlie Dixon pinch-hitting in ruck, I have been on the bench for one or two minutes and I have seen us lose a hit-out or clearance and wanted to get back out there straight away. That takes a lot of energy out of you. 

"With 'Pistol' on the field, you don't have that feeling. I love working with him and hopefully we have a few years of it.

"In finals football, players are a bit more scared to go for those corridor kicks - so they kick long down the line a fair bit. Having tall players in the team - ready for that contest down the line - helps."

Lycett's aggressive game style continues to draw notice - and gives the 28-year-old ruckman reason to reflect on his early lessons in football.

"I have always been a fighter; I come from the country, a small town of 500 people to try to make it in the AFL," said Lycett of his upbringing on the South Australian West Coast at Thevenard . "I have always had that underdog status. I am just happy to do my but for the team and hopefully win another premiership.

"I like to follow up and be aggressive. I do all those things needed for the team. 

"It was ingrained in me when I was a kid growing up in the country. One of the more cliche sayings out there was, 'The harder you go in, the less likely you are to get hurt'. Being a bigger guy, the coaches are always drilling it into your head when you are young that you have to look after your team-mates by going in hard. It has flowed on my younger days.”

In his regular Adelaide radio segment, Lycett on Thursday night highlighted the greater confidence the Port Adelaide players have in their team game plan.

"You can definitely feel something is brewing," Lycett said. "We have given ourselves every chance - and we will take it with both hands, hopefully.

"A lot of our younger players have matured quite a bit. Xavier Duursma, Zak Butters have dealt with injury this year and have come back into the team building their form while doing some incredible things for us. Not only them, but others who have had outstanding years - (All-Australians) Ollie Wines, Aliir Aliir ..."

The emotive storyline of Port Adelaide's campaign will become the wish to deliver premiership honour to club stalwarts, in particular former captain Travis Boak and Robbie Gray. 

"Everyone in the playing group and coaching staff - and all the supporters as well - know what Travis Boak and Robbie Gray have given to the club through tough times," Lycett said. "They still are outstanding players and outstanding leaders. Every player will do everything they can to make sure they can get that success. It would be amazing."