AFL pre-seasons are rarely remembered. Today, and certainly by May, there is even less reason to reflect on the lead-in to a premiership campaign - no trophies (such as that shiny satellite dish that passed for the Wizard Cup in 2002), certainly no points and no depth of competition.
Those who have wanted to scrap the AFL pre-season, that once offered as many as four games from early February to mid-March - and teams to go into the real games "cold" - might be happier.
Port Adelaide's 2022 pre-season - of three "competitive" games - might be one to keep in the back of the mind to understand what it truly offered for the long term rather than a quick fix after a long summer of football abstinence.
There was the traditional internal that excited fans on the merit of yet another first-round draftee, No. 12 Josh Sinn. There was the trial game against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium that offered a bit more reflux on the questions that lingered from last season, in particular on poor starts, errant goalkicking and countering teams that find superiority and advantages at stoppages.
And there was a now pre-season staple summer Showdown that calmed the nerves after half-time at Richmond Oval on Saturday afternoon when Port Adelaide won by 37 points to maintain a noted advantage on the rebuilding Adelaide.
So now come the expert predictions.
Is Port Adelaide, after consecutive top-two finishes in home-and-away contests, ready to take the next step on the mountain to play its first AFL grand final since 2007?
Is Port Adelaide still a top-four contender, a theme that will dominate the season opener at the Gabba against Brisbane, a rival that has its own ghosts from recent unfulfilled Septembers?
Is Port Adelaide - as Hall of Fame premiership coach Michael Malthouse - on the wrong side of midnight on his now-famous "premiership clock" and to miss the top-eight finals?
Malthouse contends that Port Adelaide's midfield is too slow and its attack has become noted for having forwards who fail on the big stage. The criticism is tough to dismiss considering the recent pair of preliminary final results.The forecast of slipping back to "no man's land" around ninth spot might ignore the meaningful themes that emerged during a short, sharp pre-season that (hopefully) will gain more relevance as the 22-round home-and-away campaign deepens in July and August.
Long before Malthouse penned his critique, Port Adelaide - even while Ollie Wines was building a Brownlow Medal-winning season - was judged as short of elite talent and speed in the midfield while age tried to claw back Travis Boak; and overly reliant on All-Australian key forward Charlie Dixon.
In a continuing credit to senior coach Ken Hinkley's willingness to look at the long-term needs at Alberton rather than just selfishly guard his win-loss record (that is at 60 per cent in home-and-away football), Port Adelaide's pre-season was just as much about building to the future while answering the burning questions left from last year.
Port Adelaide's midfield is changing to be less based on over-30s Boak and Robbie Gray and vice-captain Wines.
Willem Drew (34 games in the past three years) is filling that gap left by the exit of the hard-edged and sharp football thinker, Tom Rockliff.
Zak Butters (48 games in the past three years) is building into a starting-rotation midfielder with the same kamikaze attitude he had as a forward - and that is making him a target of heavy tactics from opposition players.
"It's deeper," Hinkley says of the Port Adelaide midfield. "More flexibility ..."
Lachie Jones (six games in his debut season that was wrecked by repetitive injuries) is more and more convincing at half-back (after being tried at half-forward and delivering an SANFL resume that says he can play on a wing as well). So Dan Houston moves to a wing where his polished kicking skills will be more and more appreciated by his team-mates inside the forward-50 arc.
Hinkley's review of 19-year-old Jones at the weekend is worth repeating: "His game was made of men's stuff. It was a tough performance - that is his DNA. He plays footy the way you like to see it played. He is not the most polished; he does not look the most tidy at times, but he plays in the right manner. He understands how to play footy."
Port Adelaide's attack is capable of being more than Dixon, who did not play during the pre-season while recuperating from ankle surgery after a training accident earlier in the summer.
Mitch Georgiades (28 games in the past two years) is an admiring study of the Hinkley theme that "you get what you deserve". He trains with a strong attitude demanding perfection. He hones his crafts with dedication. He then displays the benefits with his accurate goalkicking (four from four against Adelaide on Saturday) and his running patterns to punish defences.
The jury that is sitting on Port Adelaide's trading for Greater Western Sydney swingman Jeremy Finlayson (66 games in the past five seasons) wonders if the 196cm key forward can be consistent enough to deliver the answer at Alberton to life after Dixon. Given Hinkley's record in having second-chance players fulfill their potential - take note of defender Trent McKenzie since leaving Gold Coast - Finlayson will have no excuse if those sitting in judgment of his career turn their thumbs down.
Seven goals of the team's 17 against Adelaide from this pairing - four from Georgiades and three from Finlayson - creates greater optimism.
Some teams rebuild. Port Adelaide, under Hinkley, with his proven commitment to developing younger players, keeps building. Beyond Butters, Drew, Jones, Georgiades and what will come with Connor Rozee, Xavier Duursma, Jackson Mead and Sinn, Port Adelaide has the base for sustained challenges for a top-eight campaign in a competition designed to stop "dynasty" teams.
The pre-season, as short as it was, contrasts with the 2021 summer campaign when Port Adelaide appeared more than ready for a fast and strong start to the premiership series (that opened with a 5-1 win-loss count).
The loss to Gold Coast left too many questions. The second half against Adelaide - in which Port Adelaide outscored the intown rival by 42 points with eight goals during the third term and five in the last at Richmond Oval - created more hope.
And Port Adelaide won a game without winning the contested statistics (losing contested possession, 147-156; and stoppages, 39-45). It still managed more than 50 inside-50 entries (51 to be precise with an accurate finish of 17.9). The work on minimising the gap against teams with an advantage at stoppage is showing dividends.
This pre-season, in contrast to the one before, leaves Port Adelaide to consider it has more work to do. Not a bad thing. And the pundits, such as Malthouse, might note there is change unfolding in how Port Adelaide is developing its line-up for today and deeper to tomorrow.
The most relevant note from any pre-season is the injury list.
Forward-midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper (left hamstring, corked and strained) was injured against Gold Coast, but he remains on track to be on the selection whiteboard for the clash with Brisbane.
Gray (right hamstring) limped out of Saturday's trial late in the first term. Scans have revealed no muscle injury, so the experienced forward-midfielder remains in contention for the season-opener against Brisbane.
Forward Orazio Fantasia has had his third knee operation since his last AFL game, the preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs.
Dixon is running - and will only play against Brisbane if the match committee believes the key forward, as Hinkley says, "is not set up to fail". The encouraging signs of Georgiades-Finlayson-Todd Marshall as go-to forwards leave less need to rush Dixon.
This 2022 AFL premiership season - with the league executives throwing away the brakes to demand all games be played as fixtured regardless of COVID issues - will demand, just as Port Adelaide emphasised last year, a squad mentality. At Alberton, there has been the broadening of the player list - the blessing from Hinkley's proven record of developing players - and there is a sound fitness/health management program from a low-fuss training team.
The chase for greatness continues .... and the pre-season proves this Port Adelaide squad is primed and also continually developing to keep up the chase for some time.
