AFTER consecutive losses, Port Adelaide is on the road this week looking to respond against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat.
The Power is the only side to boast a 100% record at Mars Stadium, having won its only game there against the Dogs last season.
The Dogs have played in Ballarat twice, losing to Port last year and then beating Gold Coast there in Round 7.
Overall Port has won 15 of the 29 meetings between the sides including four of the last six.
The Power’s away form hasn’t been all that bad this season, winning four and losing four games outside South Australia.
Port is the No.1 tackling side this season, averaging 71.9. The Bulldogs are ranked ninth with 63.9.
The Power is also top-ranked for clearances, averaging 40.5, while the Dogs are 12th with 35.9.
The match will feature at least two debutants with Fergus Greene to play his first game for the Bulldogs and Kane Farrell to debut for the Power.
Bulldog star Marcus Bontempelli will play his 100th game while Port Adelaide defender Jack Hombsch will break an unusual AFL record for the player who has played at the most venues with 20.
The teams
Port Adelaide has made five changes to the side which lost to Greater Western Sydney with injury forcing two of them.
Dougal Howard (hand) and Karl Amon (knee) have been forced out of the side with injury while Jack Trengove, Lindsay Thomas
The Power has received a huge boost with All-Australian ruckman Paddy Ryder and key defender Tom Jonas returning from injuries, while last week’s late withdrawal Steven Motlop is back as well.
Young forward Kane Farrell gets a chance to debut and defender Riley Bonner returns after a week in the SANFL.
Injury has also affected the Giants with Luke Dahlhaus (ankle), Tom Boyd (lower back) and Billy Gowers (ankle) forced out and a car crash seeing Roarke Smith sidelined.
Marcus Bontempelli returns and will skipper the side in his 100th game while Fergus Greene will debut. The other inclusions for the Dogs are Fletcher Roberts and Patrick Lipinski.
The last word
Ken Hinkley
“They’re playing some more football that looks like their best football – their run and gun style of footy.
“They’ve probably got (Marcus) Bontempelli back this week, they got (Jack) Macrae back last week.
“They’re going to be hard work for any team that they come up against in the run home and we’re no different.
“We’re going to have to play at our best up there but having said that we did we did go up there last year and play pretty well so we’re at least familiar with the territory that we’re going to.”
Luke Beveridge
"We’ve got a lot to work on and our main struggle has been putting it all together for long periods in a game.
“We’ll go to Ballarat which we really look forward to playing at.
“Over time we’d like to turn it into a place where it’s really difficult for opposition sides to come and beat us.
“Gold Coast hadn’t played there when we beat them there earlier in the year but Port Adelaide beat us there last year so they’ve had some exposure and they’ll probably think that whatever advantage we have there they have trumped.
“Out of the other 17 teams Port are in a good position because they’ve already beaten us there, they’ll feel pretty confident I’d say
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