"It will be a slog, a grind again. So you need a deep squad with players capable of multiple roles."
Brett Montgomery, pre-season 2021
After two pre-season derbies, 22 home-and-away games and another qualifying final win against Geelong, Port Adelaide is back to where it all ended in 2020 - a home preliminary final.
But this time everyone, inside and outside the clubhouse at Alberton, acknowledges Port Adelaide is better prepared to clear the last hurdle to an AFL grand final - its first since 2007.
And it is that pre-season mission to develop a more versatile playing squad that has put Port Adelaide in a better frame for Saturday night's preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval.
In reflecting in that desire declared in March to build "a deep squad with players capable of multiple roles" Montgomery today notes the power of the Port Adelaide players' versatility.
"There is no doubt there is an added layer of confidence in the coach's box now to be able to shift and change things when it is not going exactly to plan," defensive coach Montgomery said on Friday. "That had not been the case in the previous two years. We had good teams. We had good players. But we were very locked into a Plan A - and Plan B became a little bit of a challenge for us.
"We now have a range of guys who are really mobile and they can pivot when they need to. There is just more depth to their performance. Our quarter-time, three quarter-time and our half-time breaks are full of conversation about what those shifts can look like."
The 2020 preliminary final marked another final decided by six points or less against Port Adelaide - as was the 2014 preliminary final against Hawthorn at the MCG and the double extra-time elimination final against West Coast at Adelaide Oval in 2017.
"We are better in the tight ones," Montgomery says of a Port Adelaide team that this season has won all six games decided by 13 points or less. "We are more mature when it comes to making those tough calls - the ones that demand more experience - when the game is on the line late."
Port Adelaide will have four players - Sydney recruit and All-Australian defender Aliir Aliir, Essendon recruit and valued goalkicker Orazio Fantasia and novices Miles Bergman and Willem Drew - mark the changes to the line-up to last year's preliminary final side that lost by six points to eventual AFL premiers Richmond.
The rise of Willem Drew - after 10 AFL games in 2019 but none last year - to be a regular midfielder in all 23 games this season has been a major gain for Port Adelaide's system this year. Drew' ability to handle major assignments in the midfield has answered a major need at Alberton.
"Willem has been outstanding," said Montgomery of the 22-year-old Drew who joined Port Adelaide as the 33rd pick in the 2016 AFL national draft.
"I know we have had other players improve across the journey - like fellow midfielder Karl Amon who earned an All-Australian nomination this season - but we were crying out for a Willem Drew type in our line-up.
"We have not wanted for too much over the past two seasons, but we were crying out for someone to bring what Will has done - just incredible pressure and a level of real honesty and accountability that our midfield needed to top it off.
"We have some incredible players in that midfield but now the balance is really, really strong."
