TOM Clurey has been a model of consistency in eight consecutive games since his injury-interrupted start to Season 2022. Now he - and his Port Adelaide team-mates - need to forge the same consistency together for at least 11 matches to secure a meaningful finish with top-eight finals action in September.

Clurey on Monday set the agenda of finding "four consistent quarters" as the template for Port Adelaide's second half of the AFL home-and-away series in which the team will need at least seven wins from 11 matches to earn a third consecutive finals berth.

"We did not play four consistent quarters (against Essendon before the mid-season break)," Clurey said at Alberton. "And our confidence (to achieve a finals berth) will grow if we do find four consistent quarters by playing our brand of footy."

Port Adelaide resumes from the mid-season break under the Thursday night lights at the MCG against fellow finals contender Richmond both refreshed and refocused. The 5-6 win-loss record keeps Clurey and his team-mates on the edge.

"We definitely are behind a little bit; not in that top eight yet so we need to keep winning," said Clurey with Port Adelaide to resume after a last-start win against Essendon at Adelaide Oval.

"From where we were at the start of the year (0-5), we would probably have taken 5-6 at the half-way point. But from here we just we need to keep winning - and get back to playing that consistent brand of footy that we know we can and we know will beat any team out there.

"There is nothing missing ... we just need that consistency. We need to play the way we want to play, rocking up each week and playing our brand of footy.

"We have put ourselves in a pretty good spot at the half-way mark of the year considering where we were at (with 0-5) earlier in the season."

The mid-season bye at the weekend was just as much an opportunity to recharge the bodies as well as refocus the minds.

"It was a timely break," Clurey said. "Obviously, it is good to have a week off to freshen the bodies. Personally, it was good to get that week off to rest the body. And I am looking forward to the back half of the year now.

"We are almost back to full strength (with few on the injury list) which makes it more exciting."

Port Adelaide faces major tests against top-eight contenders or finals certainties during the next month - Richmond (MCG), Sydney (Adelaide Oval), Gold Coast (Adelaide Oval) and Fremantle (Perth Stadium). It will be the month that clears up just where Port Adelaide does stand in the race to the 2022 top-eight finals.

"The next month is a big challenge, starting with Richmond who have won four of their past five so they are in good nick," Clurey said. "And it is at the MCG as well ... that is a good challenge.

"Where we are at the moment, we have put ourselves in a position where these are the games we have to win.

"Everyone will have their opinion on where we sit currently and where we are going to finish.

“Internally, and it has been the case throughout the whole year, we have kept the belief that we can be one of the best teams and on any day beat anyone.

"We have not lost that faith or belief inside the group - and that is all we are focused on. The outside noise is always going to be there, but we control what we can control."

Clurey, 28, missed the first three games of the AFL home-and-away season while recuperating from knee surgery - and was immediately called to big league action while Port Adelaide defence coach Chad Cornes was seeking reinforcements while All-Australian defender Aliir Aliir and fellow backman Trent McKenzie were in the medical ward recuperating from ankle and knee surgery respectively.

"We had a fair few injuries, so I slipped straight back in (without an SANFL warm-up match)," Clurey said. "I was pretty lucky there.

"It was not the ideal start to the season (with the unexpected) clean up of a knee, but it is what it is ..."

For the delayed start and then rushed re-entry to the AFL, Clurey has stood firm and solid as a key defender with strong results against some of the league's most-demanding forwards. Senior coach Ken Hinkley recently challenged the thought Clurey "enjoys" such demanding roles to suggest the 193-centimetre tall Clurey embraces the challenges.

"It probably is not 'enjoy' ... but I do look forward to getting one of the opposition's big fellas," Clurey said. "Obviously, it is a tough task, but it is enjoyable and I do look forward to the challenge.

"It is not just me. I do get help from Aliir, (captain) Tom Jonas ... there is plenty of help and it is a full team defence.

"Over the last half a dozen years it has become my role in the team. That's my role ..."

Clurey will face the challenge of countering Richmond key forward Jack Riewoldt - and perhaps Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin when he moves from the midfield - in his 119th game in nine seasons with Port Adelaide where he arrived as the No. 29 call in the 2012 AFL national draft.

"I have played on Jack a few times, but I've not spent too much time on 'Dusty' so we will see where we go there," Clurey said. "Richmond has for half a dozen years now had an attack that brings so much pressure and heat on you as defenders. We have to stay composed and do what we do in training to handle that pressure."  

Part of the external noise includes a focus on senior coach Ken Hinkley, who has proven his merit as an experienced coach by keeping Port Adelaide on track after the disappointing start to the home-and-away series.

"Ken has been huge," Clurey said. "He has been calm. He has been positive throughout the whole time. It was not the ideal start to the season - and not what anyone was expecting. But Ken has been very positive throughout it all - and hard at times, as you have to be.

"It's not his fault - we are the ones out there playing. We have taken it upon ourselves and the leaders have been excellent over the past few months in driving our standards.

"Ken has been in the game a fair while now, he is highly respected and I am pretty confident he will stay here.

"Everyone will have their opinion, but as a club, as a playing group and as a coaching group, everyone is happy inside the club and looking forward to the back half of the year."

Clurey came to the Port Adelaide Football Club at the start of the revival after the dark chapters of 2010-2012 and has been part of building a strong clubhouse where fellow non-South Australians have opted to stay at Alberton rather than return home.

This culture is - in Clurey's eyes - setting up the best chance to have wingman Karl Amon avoid the options on offer as a free agent.

"Karl is hugely vital to the team, especially across the past few years with his making the All-Australian 40 last year," Clurey said. "He has shown that consistency in the past few years. He has been huge on the wing and in the past 12 months or so by going inside he has become highly important to us as a team.

"We know what he brings.

"There always is that possibility of players going home. It is always a thought to be among family and friends back home. Karl has been here a fair while and has built strong relationships here.

"This is a real family club at Port Adelaide. It is a good environment. From day one of me being drafted to Port Adelaide I came in to the club and felt really welcome. Everyone is supportive to make for a great environment and I have not thought once over the journey about going home.

"I have been comfortable here. Adelaide is a lovely city to live in, so why would you want to leave?"

The return from the mid-season break takes Clurey to the MCG for just the eighth time since his AFL debut in 2014.

"We don't play there too often," Clurey said. "It is definitely exciting getting to Melbourne - and against Richmond on a Thursday night (with a national television audience). I am sure there will be a big crowd ... and so it becomes an exciting week."