YOU respectfully stand in silence for a minute. Lest we forget those who fell so we can still stand at a football game. And then the awkward comparisons - made more uneasy during the Anzac Appeal round - become difficult to avoid as football becomes a contest for pride, power or a premiership.

There is conflict. There are battles. There are foot soldiers ... such as Port Adelaide defender Trent McKenzie.

Midway through the last term at Adelaide Oval, with the game - his 150th in AFL company - against West Coast well decided in Port Adelaide's favour, McKenzie lunged towards a pass tracking to opposition key forward Oscar Allen in the south-east pocket by the Victor York Richardson gates that once were the entry point for returned servicemen after the Anzac Day march.

No-one will give McKenzie a medal for his act that denied West Coast a potential goal and another hit on Port Adelaide's need to boost its percentage. Hopefully, McKenzie will be mentioned in "despatches" with his commitment to the cause is noted at the Port Adelaide players' debrief this week. Never, ever give up ... even when leading by more than six goals with less than 10 minutes to play.

McKenzie is a story of resistance, commitment and ... of a foot soldier who, as an AFL player, lives up to that image of a mud-drenched trooper standing firm in crumbling trenches while under increasing enemy fire. Try find an image of McKenzie without bandaging ...

"Before the game," said Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley, "I said to Trent, you have probably trained the least of any 150-game player that I have seen .."

The reference is to all the time McKenzie has spent in the medical rooms - rather than on the training track - to overcome injury since his AFL debut with Gold Coast against Carlton in round two, 2011 when Hinkley also was at the south-east Queensland expansion club.

McKenzie came to the AFL system as one of a dozen 17-year-old prospects Gold Coast could take from the grassroots for its inaugural squad. He arrived at Alberton at the end of 2017 on the prodding of Hinkley and key forward Charlie Dixon who has left the breadcrumbs with his move to Port Adelaide two years earlier.

"Trent is a high quality person," Hinkley said of the motivation behind his want for McKenzie at Port Adelaide. "He always has had high talent. I saw the 17-year-old Trent McKenzie arrive at the Gold Coast. He was really talented. He had a rough run with his body and injury ... He has been able to stand up. What he has been able to do is get to a point where he is quite durable. That happens to some people as they get older. He can cope with the physical battle this game tests you with. It is a tick to the way he goes about things."

McKenzie's move from the midfield to the defence might have denied him glamour but not admiration from his coach.

"Maybe that was desperation from us," says Hinkley. "We tried something different. But he is a combative player. You need to be combative to play as a tall, key back. The highlights we saw of Trent (as a tribute in the team meeting on Friday) showed how often he goes back into positions you should not go, but he does for his team. He is reliable. You trust him. He plays that way."

McKenzie, now 31, reached his 150th milestone a decade after marking his 50th game with a loss to Richmond and six years after having his 100th match soured by defeat to Sydney. The 150th was in a different uniform - the black of Port Adelaide - and with victory rather than defeat.

He now has extra reason to thank Ken Hinkley.

"Ken has been huge for me," says McKenzie. "He has allowed me to be myself and gave me the confidence to play my game. 

"Ken got on the front foot. I remember he told me to sign straight away (with Port Adelaide) when I came out of contract at Gold Coast - it was like I did not have a choice; I had to sign. He left with no decision to go anywhere else ... and I didn't want to be anywhere else. It was an easy decision.

"Having Ken and Charlie Dixon at Port Adelaide made it easy. I was going to be with mates. And they both got on the front foot early to get me here. I was happy to be here straight away."

From the hotbed of Victorian junior football with the Western Jets, McKenzie has lived in football extremes at senior level.

"Port Adelaide has been a pretty special club to come to," says McKenzie. "There is a lot of history after being at the opposite with Gold Coast. To be involved in such a great club as Port Adelaide is a real privilege. Playing one game at this club is a great honour. I am pretty proud."

McKenzie has played in all four of Port Adelaide's wins this season. No coincidence it might be noted with a team that has had many questions about its need for tall defenders. After tweaking a knee in the season-opener against Brisbane, McKenzie returned to the Port Adelaide line-up after the team had conceded 135 points to Collingwood at the MCG in round 2 and 117 in Showdown LIII. It has been just 64, 56 and 69 in the past three wins against Sydney, the Western Bulldogs and West Coast.

"We are getting that balance between offence and defence," says McKenzie of a team that in six games this season has at times been all-out attack (as seen during the third term against Brisbane) and intense on defence (as noted against Sydney at SCG).

"We are in pretty good form at the moment. Three on a trot and defence is holding up pretty well ...

"We are looking for that consistency. We have built on that (on Saturday) and we still have some areas to work on, but we have taken another step forward (with the 40-point win against West Coast).

"We are all willing to help each other," added McKenzie of a defining theme that has put Port Adelaide back in the winners' circle. "That is the main thing."

Roll the tape to the third minute of the third term to reinforce this point - the spoil by debutant forward Ollie Lord, the follow-up by Jeremy Finlayson, the run by Sam Powell-Pepper, the goal that defined team work and underlines McKenzie's observation: "When the boys help each other we play our best footy."

A fair bit has changed since McKenzie started on a wing at Gold Coast.

"It goes quick (a football career), but it has been a bit of a tough battle," says McKenzie. "At Gold Coast there were tough times with injury and setbacks. But I am pretty proud to have stuck at it, to have made it to 150 and to be involved in winning teams. Hopefully, there is the ultimate to come."

McKenzie started in an AFL game adopting zone defence and now has to cope with the AFL rule makers turning back the clock with 6-6-6 starting positions after each goal.

"It makes it hard to start with," McKenzie said of a defender's brief. "But once that ball goes up, everyone can move around. If we get pressure on the ball from the midfielders, we have time to get guys back to help out. You need to give credit to the midfielders and forwards for that pressure up the field that allows us defenders to do our job down back."

Team defence.

"It's hard to tell where we are at," says McKenzie of the 4-2 win-loss start that leads to the Friday Night Football stage this week with an away clash with the pack-leading St Kilda. "We are just trying to build consistency every week. It is a big test against St Kilda. That is a test to see where we are as a football club. 

"Hopefully, we are ready to go."

McKenzie's milestone game coincided with Port Adelaide's annual tribute to the Anzacs, past and current defence service forces.

"And I don't take that lightly," said McKenzie. "It is an honour to play in this game. The Last Post before the game is so moving. To remember those who allow us to play this great game is pretty special."

ON REVIEW: Jason Horne-Francis was not jeered at Adelaide Oval on Saturday. No more needs to be said.