First impressions are so lasting in life - and football.

Port Adelaide is certainly impressive when a new AFL home-and-away season presents the first challenge along the marathon run to the premiership. Since senior coach Ken Hinkley boldly declared his team would "never give up" in the summer of 2012-2013, Port Adelaide has won eight of nine season openers (and the lone loss was by just seven points to eventual minor premier Fremantle in Perth in 2015).

Port Adelaide has won the past six season-openers of which only two have been at home at Adelaide Oval. So no-one can question Port Adelaide's readiness for season openers.

Saturday night's assignment at the Gabba in Brisbane will mark Port Adelaide's fourth consecutive road trip for an opening round. So much for that theory that rights to opening day at Adelaide Oval is on rotation between Port Adelaide and Adelaide ....

Port Adelaide and Brisbane have met in round one just once - in 2001 at Football Park at the start of their grand four-year rivalry that decided four AFL flags. Port Adelaide won that season-opener by six points, days after belting Brisbane in the pre-season cup final ... Brisbane later won the first of its three consecutive flags. It is a marathon ...

The chase for the AFL premiership is about the long game more so than first impressions.

As in 2001, four years after the AFL was reshaped to embrace Port Adelaide and to save league foundation club Fitzroy by a merger with Brisbane, the two clubs are again in each other's way in the race for glory in September. Both are highly regarded as top-four prospects again.

Port Adelaide has to move on from consecutive home preliminary final losses.

Brisbane has its own demons, in particular the record of just one win from six finals during the past three seasons.

And redemption is not a one-game mission. There are 22 matches to work through from March before anyone gets to close the scars of past Septembers.

Port Adelaide does face the immediate challenge to break a record-equaling four-game losing streak to Brisbane that - with three defeats at the Gabba - have come with 47, 37, 48 and 17-point margins. The other four-match losing run to Brisbane was from the darkest hours of 2009-2012.

FIRST UP

Greater Western Sydney recruit Jeremy Finlayson will play his first AFL match for Port Adelaide. A trade gain during the off-season, the 26-year-old forward will mark his 67th game in the big league as the most-experienced go-to forward in a new Port Adelaide attack deprived All-Australian Charlie Dixon by injury (ankle).

The raw combination of Finlayson, Mitch Georgiades and Todd Marshall delivered eight of the team's 17 goals in the summer Showdown win against Adelaide at Richmond Oval. The Brisbane defence led by a refreshed and fit Harris Andrews makes for a more challenging task.

Father-son recruit Jackson Mead finally - after being cursed by injury in recent years - gets his AFL start. Son of inaugural AFL club champion Darren, Jackson was pick No. 25 in the 2019 national draft and (while his father made his name as a defender) is an emerging midfielder/half-forward.

Despite working at the other end of the ground to his father, Jackson Mead proves the apple does not fall far from the tree.

"Tough, honest, hard footballer," said Ken Hinkley on introducing Mead to this weekend's AFL line-up.

FIRST TERMS

Port Adelaide is dogged by reminders of slow starts to games.

Brisbane is wary of slow starts to seasons, heavily reflecting on its 1-3 win-loss opening to Season 2021.

In the past four encounters (all won by Brisbane), Port Adelaide has lost the starts - by 21 points in the most-recent meeting in round seven last year, one point, 30 points and 14 points in 2019.

FIRST TOUCH

While contested football is made to be the key performance indicator in all Port Adelaide games, the underlying trend of AFL matches today is clear - win the contest, win the game. It is not just Port Adelaide.

Brisbane has by elite talent in the midfield and some creative tactics in getting numbers at the contest made Port Adelaide repeatedly reflect hard on its contest work. This time, Brisbane presents Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale with Dayne Zorko after a challenging pre-season and Cam Rayner in his league return after a serious knee injury. And there is the industrious Jarryd Lyons and aggressive Mitch Robinson.

Port Adelaide is advancing its midfield options with the notable tyros with big assignments being Zak Butters and Willem Drew taking heat at centre bounces. There is the inside-outside Karl Amon, Connor Rozee, Xavier Duursma, Dan Houston moving from half-back to a wing, Mead and a recharged Sam Powell-Pepper ...

"We have ample options," says Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines. "We are almost going down a path of having a team full of mids.

"And we are all going to play forward at times. We have forwards who are capable of going on-ball or onto a wing."

FIRST THOUGHT

Research shows people will make many judgments of people within the first seven seconds of meeting someone for the first time. Round one of a new home-and-away season can create similar - but misleading - impressions. West Coast beat eventual premier Melbourne by 27 points in Perth last year ... and missed the top-eight finals for the first time in six years.

BIRD SEED

(the small stuff that matters)

Brisbane v Port Adelaide

Where: Gabba

When: Saturday, March 19, 2022

Time: 7.40pm (SA time)

Last time: Port Adelaide 5.14 (44) lost to Brisbane 13.15 (93) at the Gabba, round 7. May 1, last year 

Overall: Port Adelaide 18, Brisbane 19, 2 drawn

Past five games (most recent first): L L L L W 

Scoring average: Port Adelaide 93, Brisbane 95

Tightest margin - 0 from two draws, both at the Gabba: Round 20, 1997 and round 12, 1998.

Smallest winning margin - Port Adelaide by one point (104-103) at the Gabba in round 17, 2003; Brisbane by 10 points (86-76) at Football Park in round 2, 2003.

Biggest margin - Port Adelaide by 113 points (159-46) at Adelaide Oval in round 4, 2014; Brisbane by 69 points (147-78) at Football Park in round 8, 2006.

By venues - Adelaide Oval: Port Adelaide 4-1; Football Park: 7-6; Gabba: 6-2-12; MCG: 1-0.