Mitch Georgiades celebrates a goal on Friday night. Image: Matthew Sampson.

AT the start of the season - and again on the eve of the top-eight final series - the external question was: What is the pass mark for Port Adelaide?

Fox Footy called this theme the "pressure gauge" on each of the eight AFL finalists. Some analysts declared a preliminary final was the least Port Adelaide should achieve after finishing the 23 games of the home-and-away series in outright second spot - and with the chance to set up a home preliminary final for the third time in the past five seasons.

Fox Footy's judges lifted the bar.

"Anything less than a grand final would be a disappointment," the network concluded two days before the major round opened.

The pass mark for Port Adelaide was debated at the beginning of the season. Image: AFL Photos.

For a club that boldly declares "We exist to win premierships", any result that leaves the lock on the trophy cabinet unturned for another year is disappointing. Whatever the external judges ask of Port Adelaide in terms of expectations, they will never demand more than Port Adelaide expects of itself.

From 18 starters - which Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley recently noted start the season with a "six per cent" chance to win the flag in a heavily controlled and "equalised" competition - the field is down to four.

External expectations on Port Adelaide have been contradictory all season - and results have defied predictions of a team that was expected to tank between fifth and eighth.

Port Adelaide has defied Hall of Fame legend Jason Dunstall's thought that Hinkley was managing a "fake top-four team".

Port Adelaide defied media expectations by beating Hawthorn, the team considered to be primed for the flag. Image: AFL Photos.

Port Adelaide has dismissed the projections of the Fox Footy "premiership window" by removing the team considered primed for the flag - Hawthorn - in an extraordinary semi-final at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.

And Port Adelaide - yet again - has shown character-defining resilience to rebound from disaster, as the 84-point loss to Geelong in the home qualifying final appeared, to put itself one win away from its first AFL grand final since 2007.

Yet, the pass mark is ... a grand final appearance. If the Port Adelaide Football Club was on the stock exchange, investors would be confused on analysts' predictions and the team's results.

In many ways, Port Adelaide has made a mockery of the numbers. In a game that is quickly mirroring professional baseball for having so many statistics, Port Adelaide has reminded all that numbers are a record of the past - not a certain pointer to the future. If it was just about looking at statistics, winning X-Lotto would be simple; just play the six numbers that most often bounce out of the barrel: 1, 11, 12, 18, 22 and 42.

Injuries to key personnel such as Sam Powell-Pepper have seen players like Esava Ratugolea reshuffled. Image: AFL Photos.

Strategy is another matter. Here, Hinkley - and his men in a football program that continues to prove it is so sound - had a significant victory last week. As Hall of Fame premiership coach Michael Malthouse noted on the final siren at Adelaide Oval on Friday night, Port Adelaide - as the underdog - won this semi-final "during the week" ... highlighting again that professional coaching is so much about the work done Monday to Friday, more so than on match day.

The notable analysis of Port Adelaide's return to the preliminary final field is how this was achieved against the true "levelling" knock in AFL football - the injury list. The man recruited from Geelong to answer a need in defence, Esava Ratugolea is now needed in an attack deprived key pieces in Sam Powell-Powell (season-ending knee injury), Jeremy Finlayson (spleen) and either Todd Marshall and Charlie Dixon. And the question mark in defence is not about height, but accurate and effective rebound since the loss of All-Australian Dan Houston by suspension and Kane Farrell by a hamstring strain that might not be season-ending after all.

Amid adversity comes opportunity - and mid-season draftee Logan Evans has answered that call.

Logan Evans has stepped up and made the most of his opportunity in the side. Image: Matthew Sampson.

Pass mark for Port Adelaide? Here, there can be so much hypocrisy. The next test is against the league-leading team that is being judged by the analysts as needing a flag to be considered a success. Sydney has lost its past eight matches to Port Adelaide - three of them at the SCG, the scene of Friday night's preliminary final. The last encounter ended in a 112-point loss at Adelaide Oval on August 3.

Like the data the analysts slave over, the numbers point to the past - all of which favours Port Adelaide. Yet the bookmakers, with their analysts playing with money more so than pride, have Port Adelaide as the least likely of the remaining four to make it to the MCG for the grand final ...

Sometimes you just need to believe in what the numbers cannot measure. That spirit - and the merit of a sound football program at Alberton - defined Port Adelaide on Friday night.