TWENTY years on from Port Adelaide's most-famous win against Brisbane, the demand to play a zealous style of football has not changed.
"We need to get our hands dirty," Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley said of Saturday's challenge in hosting Brisbane at Adelaide Oval where the special guests of honour will be the 2004 AFL premiership heroes.
Such a response is needed to not only deal with a resurgent Brisbane, but also the questions left from the last-quarter collapse to Carlton before the bye and the fall to Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.
"This is about our response, from training hard to being prepared to get back to our best," Hinkley said.
The greatest test is for the Port Adelaide midfielders - in particular captain Connor Rozee and Jason Horne-Francis - who have been subjected to tough external reviews this week.
"Our midfielders are pretty proud and they will want to respond - and I expect that they will," Hinkley said.
LATE CHECKS: Port Adelaide's final 23 is still to be confirmed. The biggest question mark remains with specialist forward Willie Rioli, who has been sidelined with a calf strain.
"He is no lock," Hinkley said. "We will make sure he pulls up fine. We don't want to make any mistakes. At this stage of his career with a calf, if you get it wrong it can be really bad.
"It will be about how he pulls up tomorrow (Saturday). We are optimistic but that does not mean he will get there."
Port Adelaide also has other players on health watch.
"We have had a couple sick this week," Hinkley revealed. "That happens at this time of the year."
RUCKUS AGAIN: Port Adelaide started the season saying it was confident it could pick any of its three rucks - Ivan Soldo, Jordon Sweet and Dante Visentini. This week it is Sweet replacing Soldo.
"Ivan, to be fair, has battled with his form since he has been back from knee surgery," Hinkley said. "That comes with missing a bit of time and a lack of continuity.
"We are confident with Sweet. And Visentini.
"We have an even group of three rucks. Sweet's form demanded he be picked. Ivan's form did not allow him to stay in the side.
"We are really comfortable with where we sit with our rucks. They are all very capable.
"Sweet dominates at SANFL level. He is better than a second-tier player, he is an AFL player."
NEW FACE: For the first time this season, Port Adelaide will introduce a new face to its AFL line-up with mid-season draftee Logan Evans. The 18-year-old defender enters the line-up two weeks after his elevation to the senior squad and with a strong body of work on the training track.
"We have seen him for six months; we have had Logan train with us right through the summer, so we have had a lot of opportunity to watch him," Hinkley said. "We are quite excited by his pre-season; we thought he was training really well and at a very good level.
"He had some challenges through his draft year; they were pretty hard for a young person to handle. He has played really well in his games in the SANFL. He thoroughly deserves an opportunity. We are really bullish about his future."
Hinkley offers the comparison of Miles Bergman to highlight how Evans plays his game.
"He has a really good mix - size, he can runs, he kicks the ball really well and he is a smart user of the footy," Hinkley said. "He has lots of things around him that we really like - a Miles Bergman-like player. That is little bit more than the norm today. He has the flexibility to play a bit taller, a bit smaller, on the ground, in the air."
HOT BUTTERS: Zak Butters needed to win a tribunal challenge to be available for this match - and the elite midfielder will be challenged by the close attention of a hard-checking opponent again and again.
"Zak will get through that challenge," Hinkley said. "He will work his way through the expectation of a good player - they get attention. He knows that. He has taken that on head-on. He knows it is frustrating for him at the moment.
"What I know of Zak is there will be a pretty determined response every time he goes out there to play. He will give everything he has got.
"My advice to Zak is that (being tagged) is a great thing. He is recognised as a great player. He should have expected that to have happened. Now he has the challenge of working through it. It does not happen overnight.
"It is a pretty big task to have someone hanging off your back, holding you, wrapping their arms around you. Zak has to work his way through it."
NTUA: Brisbane already has signalled its unease with playing Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, not just the 23 working the field but also the thousands in the terraces.
Brisbane on Thursday trained with the Port Adelaide anthem Never Tear Us Apart on its loud speakers and with coach Chris Fagan conceding his team is entering a hostile zone.
"Our fans are always loud," Hinkley said. "And we want to make sure Brisbane know they are back at Adelaide Oval. If we can play good footy, our fans will get loud with us."
Port Adelaide won last year's encounter against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval by 54 points - and has won five of the six match-ups at the ground.
SHOOTOUT: Fagan also has indicated he is prepared to enter a high-scoring, corridor battle with Port Adelaide.
"Should be fun then," Hinkley said.
But there is the question of how Port Adelaide's attack is functioning.
"(It is) not going as well as it needs to, clearly," conceded Hinkley. "Last week we had four of the players we expected to be in our best six forwards not out there, so that takes some rejigging and some understanding.
"Mitch Georgiades has been a highlight. Darcy Byrne-Jones has been giving plenty. Jed McEntee works away at different roles and we would like to see Todd Marshall lift for us. And now we have brought Jeremy Finlayson back hoping he will play at the level that we know makes a significant difference.
"And if we get Willie Rioli out there he is one of our most dangerous.
"Todd Marshall does get good opponents on him and it is hard work, more so if the ball is not moving the way it needs to move for Todd. It makes it much, much harder for Todd. Still, he kicked 1.3 on Sam Taylor ... he is getting shots on great players."
