WOULD-be AFL finalists face to face in a Thursday night battle at the MCG to shape the race to September ... and two bullish Brownlow Medallists on a potential collision course.
The AFL's contentious floating fixture has delivered by pairing Port Adelaide and Richmond on the national stage. Now, will the opposing coaches, Ken Hinkley at Port Adelaide and Damien Hardwick at Richmond, offer the show within the big show by opposing Ollie Wines and Dustin Martin?
Hinkley knows where Wines will be on his team grid. But assigning Martin's movements - as a midfielder or dangerous forward - are out of Port Adelaide's control.
"I know where Ollie will be," Hinkley said at Alberton on Wednesday in the lead-up to team selection. "Ollie will be in the middle.
"I am not sure whether 'Dusty' will be there all the time."
And - as so many AFL coaches have learned - dealing with Martin outside the midfield can become a torment in the coach's box and a nightmare on the field for defenders. There is certainly the prospect of Martin being needed in the Richmond attack while Hardwick searches for more scoring power while denied key forward Tom Lynch.
"Tom Jonas, Ryan Burton, Dan Houston ... we have good flexibility with our backs," Hinkley said.
"But 'Dusty' is a unique challenge; very much a unique challenge ... and I don't want to see the 'Dusty' of the Norm Smith model," added Hinkley referencing Martin's best-afield exploits in the 2020 grand final against Geelong at Brisbane where he won Richmond's third flag in four years with his goalscoring power.
Port Adelaide and Richmond collide after working similar scripts during the first half of the season. Both made poor starts - Port Adelaide 0-5 and Richmond 1-3. Both have dealt with injury lists that have disrupted the cohesion of the line-ups. And both are out of the top eight - Port Adelaide, 12th; Richmond, 10th - with the pundits waiting to see which clubs lives up to grand expectations.
Hinkley has no doubt on Richmond's merit as a finals contender.
"They are a fantastic football club; incredibly well coached (by Damien Hardwick and his staff) and they are getting key personnel back bar Tom Lynch," Hinkley said. "I'd say they are close to full strength ... and everyone is watching Richmond at the moment (expecting a form surge to emerge from the 2017, 2019 and 2020 premiers).
"I certainly have - very closely - over the past two-three weeks and they are a scary proposition at the MCG.
"Your best is the only way you have a chance."
Port Adelaide could name an unchanged line-up, holding the 22 from the 35-point win against Essendon at Adelaide Oval. But Hinkley concedes the prospect of a weather-affected game has his match committee mulling a different look on the team whiteboard.
"We're thinking through a few things and we'll see where they end up," Hinkley said. "It has been an interesting weather week - and challenging for us to get the right line-up.
"It's about the balance of the side, getting that right - and you do second guess a fair bit when you deal with weather forecasts."
That concern for the conditions at the 'G - and the need to be prepared for all complications posed by COVID protocols - will have Port Adelaide arrive in Melbourne on Wednesday evening with four emergencies.
"You are always uncertain what your team is because you only need to have one player wake up in the morning (showing COVID symptoms) and it could become two or three," Hinkley said. "So, you cover all the bases. Also with the SANFL team not playing until Saturday, it makes it easier to travel with extras."
There certainly will not be any first-up trial of playing all four tall forwards - All-Australian Charlie Dixon, Todd Marshall, Jeremy Finlayson and Mitch Georgiades.
"We'll most likely be smaller than taller ... most likely," said Hinkley setting up the prospect of round 11 medical substitute Lachie Jones returning to the match 22 to join Sam Powell-Pepper as an aggressive and defensive-minded forward.
"We have Marty Frederick who can play at that end of the ground, along with Jones being an option, because they bring pressure. That is what we are looking for."
Port Adelaide resumes from the mid-season bye with 11 home-and-away games to play - and the pressing need to turn a 5-6 win-loss record to the positive.
"We are very clear on where we stand," Hinkley said of the lessons taken from the first half of the home-and-away series. "(But) we got some resilience (to fightback from 0-5) when we did not want it. We had to find that resilience because it was the only way through being at 0-5; we had no choice but to stick to the course of each week and we needed to get better.
"We fought our way back, but we are not comfortable after winning five of our last six.
"We are still in the competition. We do get some satisfaction from that ..."
The lingering challenge from Port Adelaide's first-half of the season - and even well before this season - is the need to be stronger and sounder in contested football, the so-called barometer of Port Adelaide.
"We have not got it right at the contest," Hinkley conceded. "We have found ourselves in trouble with a start we did not want. We have had a few things outside our control - and some well within our control and we did not handle those well.
"Every team in the competition will find when it drops off in any part of its game there is a simple answer - keep working at it. We are not the only team in the competition that when beaten at contested possession will lose the game - it is a pretty accurate statistic, even if there is more to contested possession than just a groundball fight. It is a lot more than that."
Port Adelaide returns to the MCG for the first time since the dramatic second-half comeback against Carlton - the match that ended in a three-point loss, gave the club an unprecedented 0-5 start to an AFL home-and-away season and the trigger to start a rebound to 5-6.
While the players rested, Hinkley continued his constant review of his team, its needs and the benchmarks being set ahead of Port Adelaide in the AFL top eight.
"From the coaching point of view, the bye does not give you a break," Hinkley said. "You are still on duty. You are still working, you are still watching and you have to be."
The players, however, did escape for four days.
"Hopefully, the break gave them a mental freshen up as well as a physical freshen up," Hinkley said. "We have had some challenges (in the first half of the year) and the (bye) was a good moment for the players to separate from football and work to just relax ... and then get back at it."
The clash with Richmond starts a testing month with consecutive matches against teams either well established in the top eight or sharing Port Adelaide's task of needing to rise from mid-table: Richmond, Sydney (Adelaide Oval), Gold Coast (Adelaide Oval) and the giant-killing Fremantle (Perth Stadium).
"We are going to be exposed to more (questions and answers on Port Adelaide's merit as a top-eight contender)," Hinkley said. "It is a real challenging little block of games.
"But what we have done all year is stayed focused on the next game - and that is Richmond on Thursday night.
"We have to stay in the now. AFL football is so challenging that you don't take any chances with the game (by looking beyond the upcoming match)."
Hinkley confirmed key defender Trent McKenzie will return to the SANFL after an extended time on the injury list after knee surgery.
"It is good to get him back after a long time out," Hinkley said. "We are starting to get some people back, which is nice. If we can get them together for a period of time - that is the challenge, getting them together for a good period of time."
New to Port Adelaide's selection options is West Australian ruckman-forward Brynn Teakle who was claimed in the AFL mid-season rookie draft. The East Fremantle recruit is in contention for AFL action this season.
"We brought him to Port Adelaide with that in mind," said Hinkley, while declaring lead ruckman Scott Lycett is a month away from a return after shoulder surgery.
"Brynn has played pretty well at WAFL level. He is a good option for us. (First-year ruckman) Sam Hayes is only a very young ruckman who is still developing and has a long way to go. There is a lot of work for Sam to still do, so we have supported him a bit more (with Teakle's arrival at Alberton last week).
"Scott is four weeks away, five ... so we are stretched a little bit for experience in the ruck at the moment.
"Changing rucks is something we might look at (to deal with the challenge of winning more clearances) because you can't stay with the status quo and let that continue on. We will balance the team out with the right people."
Those who are attending the game on Thursday night at the MCG from 7:20pm AEST / 6:50pm ACST can join players and fellow supporters at the official post-match function after the final siren in the Ponsford Atrium. Access via level 2 of the Ponsford Stand.
