SAME time. Same location. Same rival.
Different prize (very different prize of four premiership points rather than an AFL grand final berth). Different teams. Different result?
No two games are ever the same. Only once in Port Adelaide's AFL story since 1997 have back-to-back games with the same opponent at the same venue delivered the same result - draws against Brisbane at the Gabba in 1997 and 1998.
So it is highly unlikely that Adelaide Oval on Friday night will become a repeat of the 2021 Friday night preliminary final between Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs.
This time, there is no grand final booking on the line (well, not directly), but there are four AFL premiership points that both teams need if they are to stay in the wild chase for top-eight berths.
Port Adelaide certainly cannot afford - while at 2-5 and looking to build momentum after wins against West Coast and St Kilda in the past fortnight - for the storyline from this round 7 clash to prompt more reflection on the 71-point wipe-out of the preliminary final in mid-September last year.
"Right now," says Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley, "we're not talking about the same two sides" to merit deep comparisons with the 2021 preliminary final and this rematch in Friday Night Football.
Neither Port Adelaide nor the Western Bulldogs are top-four teams, as they were in round 23 in August last year when Port Adelaide locked a top-two finish with a two-point win (off another Robbie Gray clutch goal) against the Western Bulldogs in Friday Night Football at the Docklands in west Melbourne.
Much changed less than a month later with a preliminary final that failed to deliver to the highly anticipated pre-game script. Much more has changed seven months on with Port Adelaide ranked 13th (2-5) and with the Western Bulldogs at 10th (3-4).
If Port Adelaide carries scars from the preliminary final, what do the Western Bulldogs need to heal from a 74-point loss to Melbourne in the AFL grand final that followed?
More relevant are the questions of the moment with Port Adelaide building a new midfield, the Western Bulldogs challenged to find consistency after creating a win-loss sequence since round 3 (after dropping the opening two games of the home-and-away series) and both teams trying to square the ledger on their win-loss counters.
DIFFERENT TEAMS
HOW do the line-ups differ from the preliminary final? There is significant change to both teams with Port Adelaide deprived experienced ruck talent and the Western Bulldogs without captain Marcus Bontempelli.
PORT ADELAIDE - IN (5): Tom Clurey, Mitch Georgiades, Trent Dumont, Jeremy Finlayson, Sam Hayes.
OUT (6): Miles Bergman (ill), Charlie Dixon (ankle), Orazio Fantasia (knee), Peter Ladhams (Sydney), Scott Lycett (shoulder), Trent McKenzie (knee).
WESTERN BULLDOGS - IN (6): Buku Khamis, Robbie McComb, Lachlan McNeil, Tim O'Brien, Ed Richards, Cody Weightman.
OUT (6): Marcus Bontempelli (managed), Mitch Hannan (concussion), Lachie Hunter (rest), Jason Johannisen (calf), Josh Schache, Easton Wood (retired).
How different do the teams play seven months later?
Port Adelaide is working Connor Rozee and Zak Butters with more minutes in the midfield where Sam Hayes will lead the ruck in his fourth AFL match.
Port Adelaide is aiming to a new-look attack without All-Australian key forward Charlie Dixon with delivery to Todd Marshall and Jeremy Finlayson needing a different theme to the long kicks to Dixon, a master of the contested mark.
Port Adelaide certainly has tightened in defence since the return of All-Australian defender Aliir Aliir - and Tom Clurey - from ankle and knee surgeries respectively. The notable gain from having these two tall defenders off the injury list is the forceful play of fellow defender Ryan Burton, both as a marking roadblock in the back half and a creative rebound player from the back half.
Champion Data notes the Western Bulldogs have marginally slipped in their scoring average (85 points this season compared with 90 last year) as the reliance on Aaron Naughton has deepened with the long-term injury to Josh Bruce (knee). This is despite Luke Beveridge's team having improved its league ranking with inside-50s (average 56 this season, up by four from 2021). The Western Bulldogs' most-telling league ranking slip is with contested possessions (10th this season, No. 5 last year).
The strength of the Western Bulldogs' game in recent weeks is in the rebound of defenders Caleb Daniel and Bailey Dale.
LESS SALT, MORE PEPPER
SEVEN months certainly can bring much change to a footballer.
Sam Powell-Pepper sat as Port Adelaide's medical substitute for the preliminary final (ultimately replacing Todd Marshall in the 22 during the match). This was enough to have West Coast ask if the contracted West Australian was available for a homecoming trade. It sparked a public ultimatum from Port Adelaide for the uncompromising midfielder-forward to shape up or ship out of Alberton.
Since the preliminary final, Powell-Pepper has turned 24, become a father and developed as a game-bursting, goalkicking forward more so than a midfielder. And when he does return to the engine room, it is as a back-up ruckman when Hayes needs a break.
"We would not be uncomfortable for Sam (to ruck again)," says Hinkley of the 187cm Powell-Pepper who has rucked in the past three games for a career tally of two hit-outs while presenting as a bullocking barrier at ruck contests.
Powell-Pepper plays his 100th AFL game in this preliminary final re-match. He is the poster boy of change.
RED TIME
NO-ONE will forget how the 2021 preliminary final began. The Western Bulldogs led by 32 points (5.2 to 0.0) after 17 minutes and it was not until time-on - "red time" - that Port Adelaide had a score with a goal from Ollie Wines.
The false starts have continued, as noted again last week by giving St Kilda a 14-point and 20-minute start in the tropics at Cazalys Stadium in Cairns.
"We have not had our first quarters anywhere near the level we'd like them to be," Hinkley says. "We are trying to turn them around as quickly as we possibly can. We are not reluctant to change stuff or look at how we can improve.
"And that is not because it is the Western Bulldogs this week. We need to be better in first quarters."
Where Port Adelaide is good - top-eight good - is in finishing quarters. When the clock hits the red zone for time-on, Port Adelaide has in seven games this season outscored its rivals 208-177 for a +31 differential. The Western Bulldogs do well in red time as well, outscoring their opponents 203-158 (+45) this season.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
From Sam Powell-Pepper with a theme that he hopes is shared by all his team-mates after this preliminary final rematch:
"A year has gone now and I am in such a better place."
BIRD SEED
(the little stuff that counts most)
Where: Adelaide Oval
When: Friday, May 6, 2022
Time: 7pm (SA time)
Last time: Port Adelaide 6.9 (45) l to Western Bulldogs 17.14 (116) at Adelaide Oval, preliminary final, September 11 last year
Overall: Port Adelaide 18, Western Bulldogs 16
Past five games (most recent first): L W L W L
Scoring average: Port Adelaide 93, Western Bulldogs 94
Tightest margin - Port Adelaide by two points (66-64) at the Docklands, round 23, August 20 2021; Western Bulldogs by three points (100-97) at Adelaide Oval, round 12, June 11, 2016.
Biggest margin - Port Adelaide by 86 points (147-61) at Marrara Oval, Darwin round 20, August 14, 2004; Western Bulldogs by 93 points (137-44) at Marrara Oval, round 12, June 13, 2009.
By venues - Adelaide Oval (4-4), Football Park (6-3), Princes Park (1-1), Docklands (3-4), Eureka Stadium, Ballarat (2-0), Marrara Oval (2-4).
By States and Territories - South Australia (10-7), Victoria (6-5), Northern Territory (2-4).
