PORT Adelaide's taming of Tiger talisman Ivan Maric could decide Sunday's elimination final, the Power's director of coaching Shaun Hart says.

Maric monstered the rucks in Richmond's last gasp win against the Sydney Swans, recording 45 hits outs - 20 above his season average.

Hart says Maric's duel with Matthew Lobbe, who has been a pillar for Port, averaging almost 33 hit outs a game in a breakout year, will swing the Adelaide Oval knockout final.

The pair are bullish ruckman, preferring brute force to subtlety, and Hart says the Power are well aware of Maric's magnetism for the Tigers, who are hunting their first finals wins since 2001.

"Another enormous battle, no doubt about it," Hart told reporters after Port's final training session.

"That battle, and then what happens when the ball hits the ground off their hands, is an enormous battle.

"But he [Maric] is a real leader for them. Since he has come back, they have been a different team.

"Certainly you become aware of the players that really give energy and motivation and inspiration to their team. I think Ivan is one of those guys.

"That battle looms as a real focal point for the game."

Maric missed the initial 10 games of the season with an ankle injury and his return was a key in Richmond's unheralded nine-game winning streak to steal into the finals.

The Richmond ruckman will meet a confident Lobbe who, like his Port teammates, is bubbling at the prospect of the cut-throat final.

"The mood is really buoyant, really up and about, and our group is really running well I reckon," Hart said.

"There is certainly no worries, no fears, about this game coming up in terms of just being able to compete and do their best. They're really quite energetic.

"The momentum is just right at the moment."

Port enter the finals as the league's second-highest scorers, having posted 90 or more points in 14 games this season, but Hart expected scores to drop by as much as 20 points in the eliminator.

"Both teams like to play quick football when they get the opportunity," he said.

"But certainly I look at Sydney and Richmond's game last week, it ended up  (with scores) in the 60s.

"Finals footy dictates that we're probably going to see 10 or 20 points less on average than what a home and away game might be between the two teams.

"We just have to make sure we maximise our opportunities on offence.

"And defensively you just have to be switched on ... if you're not, and holes open up, you become really vulnerable."