NO-ONE is asking, "How important is this game?" The Port Adelaide-Essendon rematch at the Docklands in west Melbourne on Sunday evening might have fallen off today's agenda in AFL football, but it will have significant consequences for tomorrow.

It is very important, even if Port Adelaide, placed 12th - and Essendon, ranked 14th - is no longer in the race for an AFL top-eight finals berth.

There are list-management decisions to be made at Alberton, particularly when the trade market in October is expected to be most volatile for some time.

There are the final rankings on the premiership table that will determine the calling order for the AFL national draft in November. Port Adelaide is currently 12th with an 8-12 win-loss record and two home-and-away games to play to close a frustrating season. 

There is the prospect of ranking as South Australia's highest-ranked AFL team for the fifth consecutive year.

There is the need for winning form and renewed confidence before a pride-defining Showdown at Adelaide Oval on Saturday week when there will be a treasured trophy to return to Alberton.

But one game at a time ...

So, how important is this game? Very important, it would seem.

"We still have two games to go - and a lot of footy to be played, a lot of learning to be taken across two weeks of training and footy. I want to get the most out of it. I will miss playing footy (during the spring and summer), so I want to get the most out of these two games."

Port Adelaide midfielder Zak Butters

RUCK TALES

IS Plan B now Plan A?

The makeshift battery of Jeremy Finlayson and Charlie Dixon is back on duty - and is Port Adelaide best approach to ruck battles and the ground-ball contest that follows.

At selection, Port Adelaide has sent mid-season rookie draftee Brynn Teakle back to the SANFL and midfield coach Brett Montgomery is afforded the chance to work the Finlayson-Dixon routine by the return of 2022 leading goalkicker Todd Marshall from isolation after clearing COVID protocols.

Last time, at Adelaide Oval in round 11, Port Adelaide had the novice Sam Hayes leading the ruck with support from Dixon and Finlayson. Essendon won the hit-out count 38-30 through the partnership of Andrew Phillips and Sam Draper - and the clearance tally was tight with Essendon leading 36-34.

This time, it is still Draper to lead the Essendon rucks - and probably do the bulk of the ruck work - with support from Peter Wright.

SCORING POWER

THERE was a time when Port Adelaide-Essendon duels brought big scoring. Shoot-outs under the roof at the Docklands were regularly on the cards with high-octane football.

Essendon has not broken the watershed 100-point barrier against the Port Adelaide defence in the past four encounters after scoring (but losing) 111, 106 and 131 points in the three matches between 2017 and 2019.

Port Adelaide has reached the ton (and added more) in two of the past four games - that have all resulted in wins - against Essendon.

This is a different Port Adelaide attack today. No Robbie Gray, who is being rested. No Orazio Fantasia, who misses a clash with his former Essendon team-mates by soft-tissue concerns that have derailed his comeback after knee surgery. No Steven Motlop, who has retired. 

The challenge to the Port Adelaide midfielders gets bigger. Not only do they need to correct their losses at the contests against Richmond from the weekend, they also need to contribute on the scoreboard.

"We know what Essendon will bring - speed, energy, high skill and they want to get the ball moving at the back. It starts with our contest work being strong. It comes down to being physical and locking the ball in our forward 50 and keeping it in there - and defending hard and sharp.

"We were not great at contest last week, so it is on us to bring that this week. There will be a bit of feeling when we look to bring some heat (at the contest) this week."

Port Adelaide midfielder Zak Butters

FORM LINES

SINCE the round 11 clash at the rain-soaked Adelaide Oval, 

PORT ADELAIDE has struggled to overcome the drag of the 0-5 start. The 16-point win against Essendon put Port Adelaide at 5-6. Twice, at 7-7 and 8-8, Port Adelaide squared the ledger. But it never found more wins than losses.

In nine games, Port Adelaide has had a 3-6 count with an average losing margin of 15 points. Until Saturday's 38-point loss at home to the finals-bound Richmond, Port Adelaide had worked to the theme of being very competitive against the league's pacesetters.

ESSENDON has had its own dead weight, including a 0-3 start and 2-10 win-loss count that has prompted a detailed internal review at Tullamarine.

After leaving Adelaide Oval at 2-9 on the back of the 16-point loss to Port Adelaide, Ben Rutten's crew has worked a positive 5-4 win-loss count to have rebuilt confidence and belief. The four defeats, however, have highlighted how erratic Essendon can be while consistently competing on match day. The losses have been by 26 points to Carlton, 10 points to West Coast in Perth, four points to the plucky Collingwood outfit and, at the weekend, to non-contender Greater Western Sydney by 27 points in Sydney.

Both clubs have failed to live up to their own expectations - let alone the lofty calls made externally, such as Hall of Fame coach Michael Malthouse declaring Essendon would win the flag.

This game is very much about building new hope for Season 2023.

"I reckon the past 10 weeks or so have been pretty consistent."

Essendon coach Ben Rutten

SPEED HUMP

REMEMBER the 1990s when Essendon carried the road safety message of "Speed kills" on its jumper from a sponsorship logo? Now this theme is noted in the playing style of an Essendon team very much at home on the fast, indoor deck at the Docklands.

"They will put speed on the game," says Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley. "Essendon play (at the Docklands) regularly; we have not played there this year. We had a great record (with six wins from six matches) there in 2021, but '21 does not count for much now. We have to turn up knowing the last time we played Essendon, at Adelaide Oval, it was a real challenge and real fight for us, particularly when it was wet."

If the roof is closed, there is a speed game to challenge Port Adelaide.

If the roof was left open - with any rain to fall - Port Adelaide would revisit the issues that emerged at Adelaide Oval in round 11 when Essendon conceded just one goal during the second half.

So, does Port Adelaide test its team defence to the limit with speed humps along the running lanes at Marvel Stadium?

Or does a team with its own speed machines - be it from leg speed or ball movement, particularly with long, accurate kicks from wingman/half-back Kane Farrell - work a game of high risk and high entertainment

ACROSS THE DIVIDE

ORAZIO Fantasia is absent, two years after leaving Essendon with a 111-goal count across 70 games.

Fantasia is now putting his focus on a clear run to his first uninterrupted pre-season in almost five years after a tough battle with soft-tissue injuries this year while on the comeback trail from corrective knee surgery.

"I am going to have a couple of weeks of good rest - and I don't need surgery," said Fantasia. "I can go into the off-season for the first time in almost five, perhaps six, years without any surgery.

"I know I will get good training in and come Day 1 of pre-season I will be out there training."

Without Fantasia there is still enough on each side of the Port Adelaide-Essendon divide to maintain the long-standing rivalry by defection.

But there is more off-field today than in the player locker room. 

At Alberton, forwards coach Nathan Bassett had a short stint as an assistant coach in 2015.

At Tullamarine, Essendon football chief Josh Mahoney is a member of Port Adelaide's breakthrough 2004 AFL premiership line-up - and the player list includes Will Snelling, a former rookie at Alberton.

"Ken Hinkley cares about us as individuals - and he gets the best out of us."

Port Adelaide forward Orazio Fantasia

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"We review every season - at the end of the season - with a fine-tooth comb and we go through it to make sure we have the best chance to improve. This will be no different. We have some evidence (on why Port Adelaide has fallen from a preliminary finalist to a non-finalist). We will go through it closely at the end of the season to make sure that evidence is accurate."

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley

BIRD SEED

(the little stuff that matters most)

Where: Docklands, west Melbourne

When: Sunday, August 14, 2022

Time: 4.10pm (SA time)

Last time: Port Adelaide 9.12 (66) d Essendon 6.14 (50) at Adelaide Oval, round 11, May 29, 2022.

Overall: Port Adelaide 20, Essendon 14

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

Scoring average: Port Adelaide 99, Essendon 89

Tightest margin - Port Adelaide by three points (109-106) at the Docklands, round 7, May 8, 2010; Essendon by two points (62-60) at Adelaide Oval, round 16, July 5, 2014.

Biggest margin - Port Adelaide by 96 points (158-62) at Football Park, round 1, March 28, 2004; Essendon by 94 points (156-62) at the Docklands, round 1, March 9, 2000.

By venues - Adelaide Oval (4-2), Football Park (8-3), MCG (1-1), Docklands (7-8).

By States - SA (11-5), Victoria (8-9).