DARRYL WAKELIN slumped as the monkey (or gorilla as it became) slid off his back and that of his team-mates, his coach and his club. And then the emotions were uncontrollable ... Port Adelaide, finally after a series of chokes, was in an AFL grand final.

"It," says Wakelin of the combination of relief, elation, excitement and anticipation of what was to come within eight days, "was nothing like I had known before."

And Wakelin had been here before. In his third AFL season - and 55th national league game - the key defender had comfortably advanced through the preliminary final (by 46 points) at Waverley Park to end North Melbourne's reign as the AFL centenary premier.

"In 1997," recalls Wakelin, "I am thinking, 'How good is this! I am 22 - and I am in an AFL grand final' after celebrating an SANFL premiership with Port Adelaide three years earlier. You think, this game is so great ..."

A week later, Wakelin watched another team walk away with the AFL premiership trophy at the MCG ... and, after his homecoming to Port Adelaide in 2001, the game also taught Wakelin just how cruel and demanding it can be. 

Straight-sets exit in 2001, preliminary final loss to Brisbane at the Gabba in 2002, preliminary final loss to Collingwood in 2003 ... and now destiny had Wakelin before his former St Kilda team-mates in the play-off for a place in the 2004 AFL grand final. The monkey had become a gorilla.

"And that final siren at Football Park just brings relief," recalls Wakelin of the first reaction that overcame a haunted Port Adelaide team with the six-point win on a Friday night in September 2004 at West Lakes.

"I can't tell you how much had built up across 2001, 2002 and 2003. But I know it all - every emotion - spilled after that preliminary final. How good was that moment! You are going back to the grand final ... you have a chance to win the AFL premiership."

Wakelin, now 50 and a successful pharmacist and media commentator, played in two contrasting AFL preliminary finals with Port Adelaide.

In 2004, the campaign - that has delivered three consecutive minor premierships - was overdue in presenting a grand final appearance and an AFL flag.

In 2007, after finishing the home-and-away season second to rebound from a disappointing 2006 season of eight wins from 22 games and 12th placing, Port Adelaide advanced to the grand final well before its time.

In 2004, it was an epic contest. "And we can look at the start with Roger James and finish with Gavin Wanganeen and say that made the difference," says Wakelin. "Had St Kilda won, they would say the same of Robert Harvey and Stephen Powell. Little things ... big outcomes."

In 2007, it was a no-contest, an 87-point thrashing of North Melbourne at Football Park.

"So much changed during 2007," recalls Wakelin. "Our game plan took on new dimensions halfway through the season. We used zone defence, we sent our wingers back ... and we had some luck, particularly in that qualifying final (at Football Park) with West Coast losing Ben Cousins with a hamstring strain after half-time. But sometimes you need a little bit of luck in this game.

"North Melbourne always had been a tough opponent for us. We had beaten them earlier in the season at home (by 18 points) with them making a big finish. But we got them on the right day and hit them hard early in that preliminary final.

"And then we got ahead of ourselves with the grand final (against Geelong). Port Adelaide is best when it stays under the radar and has the underdog tag. For that grand final, we became arrogant ... we mocked Geelong, pushing that line that they would not want to lose the grand final after being the stand-out team of the year. That is not what we should have been doing ... that tone is not what we are about at Port Adelaide."

In 2004, there was no bragging. There could not be after so many failings in September across the previous three years.

"And it did not look good at the start of that preliminary final against St Kilda," recalls Wakelin of the false start by Port Adelaide that had just Roger James troubling the Champion Data statisticians. "We gave (St Kilda key forward) Fraser Gehrig his first two goals (to get to 100) from kick-ins. They came back over our heads ... and after the second, the crowd came flooding onto Football Park while Fraser was taken into the tunnel.

"It was a good time-out for us. St Kilda settled from the start. We needed 20 minutes. We always knew that game would go to the wire. And it did. Remember St Kilda was white hot that season.

"That break to clear field after Fraser kicked his second goal was a relief for me - and probably everyone but Roger James. It certainly was a relief for me. I was not playing bad, but ... The game was very fast with the movement between the arcs. That time-out gave us the chance to get together, work out our tactics and get into the game.

"At half-time, (senior coach) Mark Williams was so good with his messaging. He told us having a not-so great first half did not mean we could not be good in the second half. That meant a lot to have a coach who had the right message. 'Choco' knew how to get us up after a so-so first half. That is why we were so good in close games in 2004. We understood that when we had the opportunity to make a mark on the game, we had to take it. It comes down to making the right decision - under pressure."

Preliminary finals carry a status - an aura - that often is linked to the terraces being filled by supporters, rather than the special invitees to the 100,000 seats at the MCG for the grand final.

"There is such anticipation with the preliminary finals - and such a reward with a grand final appearance for the winners," said Wakelin. "As a player, you don't want to get ahead of yourself after a preliminary final. There is a premiership to win ... but you have made a grand final. You have made a grand final. That is a hard thing to do in the AFL."

Wakelin notes Sydney this time carries the pressure to advance to a grand final after winning the minor premiership and leading the league for so much of this season.

"That is a positive for Port Adelaide," says Wakelin of Friday night's preliminary final at the SCG. "The qualifying final against Geelong was terrible. The semi-final against Hawthorn has made Port Adelaide battle hardened. And you have to acknowledge Ken Hinkley has been getting the match-ups against Sydney right for some time now.

"Bring the intensity seen on Friday night against Hawthorn and get the match-ups on those Sydney stars right again, it could be a big night at the SCG."

PORT ADELAIDE IN AFL PRELIMINARY FINALS

SINCE promotion to the AFL in 1997, Port Adelaide has reached that final step to the grand final - the preliminary final - eight times, including Friday night's challenge of minor premier Sydney at the SCG.

Twice - in 2004 and 2007 - Port Adelaide has booked grand final appearances with vastly differing preliminary finals at home, both at Football Park. Winning for the first time on the road would be history in the making.

2002: LOST to Brisbane at the Gabba (by 56 points).

AFTER the home-and-away season closed with Port Adelaide taking the minor premiership - and rights to a home preliminary final - away from Brisbane by six points at Football Park, the script was wrecked by the qualifying final loss to Collingwood at West Lakes. Port Adelaide did rebound with a semi-final win against Essendon, but the trip to Brisbane for the preliminary final was a dead end.

2003: LOST to Collingwood at the MCG (by 44 points).

FOR the third consecutive year, Port Adelaide was dealing with demons - the choke phenomenon - in September. In 2003, it was again a slip-up in a home qualifying final - to the under-rated and injury hit Sydney at Football Park - before setting up this preliminary final at the MCG by beating Essendon in a home semi-final. Defender Matthew Bishop sums up the preliminary final at the G: " ... that loss to Collingwood in the preliminary final at the G really hurt.

"That was the big kick in the guts. And after three final series as we had (during the 2001-2004 campaign) we could have gone either way. We could have collapsed ... or we could have changed the storyline."

History remembers the breakthrough premiership of 2004.

2004: WON against St Kilda at Football Park (by six points).

THIS is - and will remain - one of the classic finals of all time. It took Port Adelaide to its first AFL grand final - and the first with no Victorian-based team, creating history for the national game while Port Adelaide ended the choke by closing Brisbane's dynasty. The preliminary final has defining notes - Roger James trying to save Port Adelaide from a wipe-out in the first term; the regroup while fans invade Football Park to celebrate St Kilda key forward Fraser Gehrig kicking his 100th goal of the season; the match-winning goal from Gavin Wanganeen in the 22nd minute of the last term from the apex of the 50-metre arc at the north-east end of the ground; the save by Shaun Burgoyne and Chad Cornes on former team-mate Brent Guerrra in the final minute. The biggest lead in this epic final is 14 points (by St Kilda in that fast start). 

2007: WON against North Melbourne at Football Park (by 87 points).

ACROSS the club's first decade of national action, Port Adelaide had lost 13 of 17 clashes with North Melbourne, including the first nine and an elimination final at the MCG in 1999. But the second-ranked Port Adelaide entered this preliminary final - after a terse battle with West Coast in the home qualifying final - with sounder form against the then-badged Kangaroos, including an 87-point victory in the 2005 elimination final at the Docklands and an 18-point win at Football Park in round two. Port Adelaide led by 16 points at quarter time and then surged with 14.13 to 2.14 after the first break with captain Warren Tredrea famously taking a bow after kicking one of his four goals. 

2014: LOST to Hawthorn at the MCG (by three points).

WHAT a year, the second of the revival from the dark chapter of political plays and on-field torment. The move to Adelaide Oval, the black-and-white bars saga with the elimination final against Richmond at the Oval, the "never give up" mentality in the semi-final against Fremantle in Perth ... and then regret in the preliminary final against eventual champion Hawthorn at the MCG.

"There are significant moments in that preliminary final that we would all like again," says Carlile, who watched from defence while Port Adelaide wasted a strong start with a 3.9 opening.

Falling 23 points behind Hawthorn at the end of the third term, Port Adelaide never gave up - even when 29 points behind halfway through the last term. It is another epic finish with significant "what if" moments in the final two minutes, including Andrew Moore's driving kick from the boundary line; and Angus Monfries and Brad Ebert knowing why it is said the whistle disappears late in a match, particularly a final.

2020: LOST to Richmond at Adelaide Oval (by six points).

WITH life - and football - challenged by a worldwide pandemic, this preliminary final was most different. Port Adelaide was minor premier and had advanced with a strong win against Geelong in the home qualifying final at Adelaide Oval; Richmond was the defending champion on the long road away from the closed MCG after losing the qualifying final to Brisbane at the Gabba. Port Adelaide led by two points at quarter-time; Richmond by two at the last change after all was level at half-time. Richmond advanced after a significant shift in tactics, with a larger ring of players around the contest, after half-time ... and a contentious goal from Kane Lambert on a free kick after Port Adelaide defender Hamish Hartlett took to the boundary line.

2021: LOST to Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval (by 71 points).

BLITZED by a seven-goal start that gave the Western Bulldogs a 37-point lead at quarter-time, another promising season was sunk at the last hurdle. "No excuses, no reasons - we had what we needed and we just didn't perform," said Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley.

2024: PLAYS minor premier Sydney at the SCG on Friday night.

FOR the first time in a decade, Port Adelaide is on the road - to Sydney - to play a preliminary final, seeking its first passage to an AFL grand final while away from home. It is the first meeting with Sydney in a final since the 2003 qualifying final at Football Park. Port Adelaide has won the past eight against Sydney, putting the head-to-head count at 15-20. Three of those eight wins have been at the SCG, by two, 23 and 28 points.