KEN Hinkley only needs to look into the eyes of his Port Adelaide captain Tom Jonas to know his team is not done with Season 2022.

And hasn't this season proven not to discount Jonas, even when the odds seem hopelessly stacked against him. The captain always finds a way ...

Port Adelaide is at 7-8 with seven games to play. Percentage is inferior to many of Port Adelaide's rivals currently in the AFL top eight or those hoping to be there at the end of the mad scramble to September. And the lop-sided draw - with those five "double-up games" to make up the 22 games for a home-and-away series among 18 clubs - certainly is graded as tough for Port Adelaide.

Mission impossible? Tell that to Tom Jonas.

"Do the players still believe? Of course we do," says Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley. "I only have to look at Tom Jonas to know that."

Many would say they might have become delusional at Alberton. It certainly has been a place for those with unbreakable spirit from the moment Port Adelaide put a noose around its collective neck with a 0-5 start to the home-and-away rounds. Each loss tightens that noose.

This weekend, with a Saturday night game at Adelaide Oval, the obstacle is Greater Western Sydney - the 13th-ranked team that has cut the rope to play with the freedom that comes without the demanding expectation of chasing a top-eight finals berth. Greater Western Sydney is deciding who stays in the race, however.

WATCH THE TUMBLERS

IT always comes in threes.

Port Adelaide's reputation for delivering the toughest "team defence" system has been tested to the limit in the past fortnight - and probably will not change this week.

Gold Coast a fortnight ago tried to become just the second team to break the 100-point barrier against Port Adelaide this season (following Hawthorn's 120 points at Adelaide Oval in round 2).

Fremantle came even closer with 99 in the eight-point thriller at Perth Stadium on Sunday.

Greater Western Sydney is certainly capable of maintaining this theme at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, putting the Port Adelaide defence led by Jonas on notice.

After losing defender Trent McKenzie to illness on Friday, Port Adelaide has restored the Jonas-Tom Clurey-Aliir Aliir combination after recalling Clurey from the emergency list.

All-Australian Aliir had his 100-game milestone become a tough day out against in-form Fremantle key forward Rory Lobb. But Hinkley is full of trust in Aliir.

"Aliir has been pretty reasonable since he got back from his ankle injury - and it was a significant ankle injury," said Hinkley of the surgery Aliir required after the season-opener against Brisbane at the Gabba. "Up until last week (against Lobb), he was building his form really strongly. We were comfortable with him. Last week was not his best, but if we over-react or under-react to one individual game, it is not great judgement. He will play very well (on Saturday night)."

NEW LOOK

BOTH Port Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney have midfields adjusting to new hands in ruck.

Jeremy Finlayson will face his former team-mates at Greater Western Sydney as a ruckman in partnership with fellow key forward Charlie Dixon.

They will be opposed to second-year Greater Western Sydney ruckman Matt Flynn who has been preferred ahead of the older journeyman Braydon Preuss. Flynn, who has played 22 AFL games, chalked up a career-high 46 hit-outs in a neat contest with Hawthorn rival Ned Reeves at the weekend.

Finlayson will again give up centimetres - 196 v 201 - but not territory.

"What Jeremy - and Charlie - have been able to do, particularly when the ball hits the floor, is quite remarkable," says Port Adelaide midfield coach Brett Montgomery.

Port Adelaide has experienced ruckman Scott Lycett back in action in the SANFL this weekend after a three-month lay-off to recover from shoulder surgery.

AT THE CONTEST

WHAT do the "barometers" say?

There is not much in the most-quoted figure in Port Adelaide games - contested possession. Port Adelaide's season average is 137; Greater Western Sydney is 137.3.

At clearances, Port Adelaide leads 37.9 to 37.3.

Sounds like an enticing battle to watch. More so with the return of Port Adelaide midfielder Zak Butters after two weeks on the sidelines to recover from a medial ligament strain to his left knee.

"Zak brings lots of stuff. He certainly makes us better - and he plays forward of the ball too, to help our scoring," Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley said. "Zak Butters, Ollie Wines, Connor Rozee, Travis Boak ... they all share a bit of time in the forward line and Zak certainly helps us from a scoring capacity with goal assists. He brings a lot of dynamics for us around the ball - and forward of the ball."

Greater Western Sydney has its own parade of stars - Tom Green, Stephen Coniglio, Lachie Ash, Josh Kelly ...

"Our midfield is travelling along really nicely," says interim Greater Western Sydney coach Mark McVeigh. "When you talk about Steve Coniglio, Tim Taranto, Tom Green, Josh Kelly, just to name a few, there’s some good players there that are obviously going well."

The scoreboard attendant at Adelaide Oval certainly could be busy.

AFTER PERTH

HOW does Port Adelaide perform after the long road trip to Perth - with the greatest time zone shift in Australian football? The record book is more than encouraging.

Last season, Port Adelaide followed up a loss to West Coast in Perth with a two-point win against Richmond at Adelaide Oval ... on a six-day break.

In 2019, Port Adelaide won both home games the weekend after playing in Perth - beating North Melbourne (after the "dirty ball" win against West Coast on Good Friday) and winning against Geelong by 11 points (after losing to Fremantle).

OPPO WATCH

SINCE round 10 - after the resignation of senior coach Leon Cameron - Greater Western Sydney has worked a 3-3 win-loss run under interim coach Mark McVeigh. The team that seemed unable to play to its attacking potential has scored at an average of 98 points (breaking the 100-point barrier three times in six games - compared with just once in the previous nine).

McVeigh's audition - with his desire to become the senior coach well stated - has delivered wins against West Coast, North Melbourne and Hawthorn, three teams ranked lower than the 13th-placed Greater Western Sydney.

But the three losses to finals contenders do highlight a competitive spirit among McVeigh's men - Brisbane (14 points), the Western Bulldogs (20 points) and Collingwood (11 points).

"They are such a dangerous team - they have such talent around the ball and forward of the ball that they can put a score on anyone," said Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley. "They have freedom. They are playing attacking football. They are playing risk-free in their offence."

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

BIRD SEED

(the little stuff that counts most)

PORT ADELAIDE V GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY

Where: Adelaide Oval

When: Saturday, July 9, 2022

Time: 7pm (SA time)

Last time: Port Adelaide 15.10 (100) d GWS 11.7 (73) at Marvel Stadium, round 20, August 1, last year

Overall: Port Adelaide 6, GWS 6

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

Scoring average: Port Adelaide 88 points, GWS 85

Tightest margin - Port Adelaide by 17 points (63-46) at at Metricon Stadium, round 6, July 12, 2020; GWS by one point (56-55) at Adelaide Oval, round 19, July 27, 2019

Biggest margin - Port Adelaide by 75 points (125-50) at the Sydney Showgrounds, round 12, June 16, 2013; GWS by 86 points (151-65) at Manuka Oval, Canberra, round 4, April 17, 2016

By venues - Adelaide Oval, Port Adelaide 1-3; Football Park, 1-0; Sydney Showgrounds, 1-1; Manuka Oval, 1-2; Metricon Stadium, 1-0; Marvel Stadium, 1-0.