PORT ADELAIDE SANFL coach Matthew Lokan says his side is looking forward to getting away to Kadina and hopefully keeping its finals hopes alive against Adelaide on Sunday.

The eighth-placed Magpies will take on the last-placed Crows at Kadina Oval, needing to win to stay in touch with the top-five.

After a testing few weeks where they faced reigning premiers Sturt, Second-placed Norwood and league-leaders the Eagles, Lokan said it’d be nice to get his team away to the Yorke Peninsula together.

“Most of our guys haven’t had the chance to travel with the AFL boys yet so it’s an opportunity to get away,” he said.

“To be able to get here to he footy club, get on a bus and head into the country is great.

“There’s always a good crowd because the country communities always get behind these games.

“Being able to get away together and get that atmosphere is exciting for a lot of those guys – it’s close to where Cam Hewett is from and a couple of our guys have connections to the area too.”

Against the Eagles the Magpies led well for much of the contest but faded late with injuries to Jake Neade and Matthew Broadbent leaving Lokan with just 19 fit players.

While he was happy with how his side performed for most of the game, the coach said his young side needed to play for a full four quarters.

“The Eagles are a really good side and it’s probably where we’ve battled for most of the season is our inconsistency and being able to present our best for four quarters,” Lokan said.

“I thought we managed that but only for two and a half quarters when we were on top against the Eagles before they overran us late.

“We also lost a couple of guys in the last quarter to injury which hurts your rotations.”

While the Crows are winless in their 12 matches Lokan said they were slowly welcoming back more senior players which presented a big challenge.

“They’ve got some guys into the side who have had some AFL experience and more of their senior players with Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Paul Hunter and Sam Gibson, Paddy Wilson and now Darcy Fogarty back from the AFL,” he said.

“They’re getting some guys back in at the right time of the year so we definitely can’t take them lightly – it’ll be a really hard game.

For the first time in more than 100 years the Magpies won’t wear the traditional prison bar guernsey.

Lokan said it was for good reason in NAIDOC week and the SANFL’s Indigenous round.

His side will wear a guernsey specially designed by AFL-listed ruckman Paddy Ryder, similar to the one the Power wore in the AFL’s Indigenous round.

“Our club’s got a really strong connection with the Indigenous community and it’s a special thing for us to be able to wear the Indigenous guernsey for NAIDOC week and the Indigenous round for the SANFL.”

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