PLAN Bs have changed a bit.

Gone are the days from the 1980s when - as Essendon premiership master Kevin Sheedy fashioned - the lone-hand senior coach would throw the magnets to make significant positional changes, hoping to turn the tide in a football game being lost on the scoreboard.

Now it is all much more subtle, particularly in the critical midfield. The vision at the weekend of former Port Adelaide assistant coach Matthew Nicks, in his new role as the Adelaide senior mentor, moving water bottles and bananas highlighted the Xs and Os in top-flight Australian football are worthy of comparison to world championship chess matches.

For Port Adelaide, the half-time reset for a midfield falling behind the Western Bulldogs in Monday Night Football at Adelaide Oval proves Plan Bs in the 21st century can be as ingenious as moving a player a few steps to the left, another a few to the right ... mixing the rotations of wingmen ... and having a young ruckman command front position or be first under the drop of a centre bounce.

And the results - along with a strong attitude from a group of ambitious Port Adelaide players - were stunningly stark. The result was so obvious that everyone could see the result translated to the scoreboard, even if there was no dramatic change to the line-up ala Sheedy style 1984.

Down by three points at half-time - and completely overwhelmed by the inside-50 count favouring the Western Bulldogs 25-12 - Port Adelaide won its eighth game of the season by producing a dominant third term. The clearances went 8-2 in favour of the adjusted Port Adelaide midfield; the inside-50 count turned to a 17-3 count to Port Adelaide's advantage (and to the relief of an overworked Port Adelaide defence) - and control of the ball was counted 54 percent with Port Adelaide, 29 per cent Western Bulldogs and 17 per cent in dispute. This is comprehensive.

Sometimes the numbers on those Champion Data computer screens sum up a game perfectly.

That half-time tinkering - that probably needs an overhead camera to appreciate - turned a three-point deficit into a commanding 23-point lead appropriately capped off with novice ruckman Peter Ladhams scoring his first goal of the season at the end of the third term (from a cheeky inside-50 pass from midfielder Tom Rockliff when the Western Bulldogs defence was fearing a last-minute Hail Mary play to key forward Charlie Dixon, who has found sticky hands in heavy marking contests).

Those 26 minutes in the third term add to the collection of telling in-game changes in structure, game style and attitude that have put Port Adelaide at the top of the AFL ladder and kept Ken Hinkley's team at the front of the pack for 19 weeks.

"We could have hung our heads at half-time ... down on the scoreboard, on a short break (after beating Melbourne in Brisbane four nights earlier) ... but we adjusted, we reset," said Hinkley.

"We were aware the game was being played more on the Bulldogs' terms than it needed to be on the ball - and not just at stoppage.

"We changed personnel (with the 29-game Zak Butters again taking a match by its neck in the third term) and structure ... 

"There's a bit that went into that. We made some corrections at half-time that got us where we wanted to be. We won the game clearly in the third quarter."

Echoing in the background is a statement Western Bulldogs champion Brad Johnson made from the commentary booth during Port Adelaide's 48-point win against West Coast at Metricon Stadium in late June: "Huge growth in the way they play their football."

Hinkley sees a team "going okay ... in the right direction" at a time when the path to the finish line in this challenging football season is still very foggy. It is a year for plans B, C, D ... and Port Adelaide is showing it has a growing collection of football's alphabet in its new playbook.

ROUND 10

Port Adelaide 8.7 (55) d Western Bulldogs 5.12 (42)

IF there was time for the standard post-match review, complete with video clips, Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley says he would gather his troops at Alberton this week to dissect set-ups at contests. Considering his team's two match losses this season - to Brisbane and St Kilda - and the first-half loss to the Western Bulldogs on Monday night are all related to falling behind the count at stoppages and scrimmages, Hinkley's choice of video edits would be strategic.

"We can get better," he said.

But the staff in the cutting room would be tempted to offer up a supplementary package:

SECOND QUARTER: Zak Butters intercepting a play from 2016 Norm Smith Medallist Jason Johannisen at the northern front of the center square. The spill fell to first-game small forward Boyd Woodcock who loaded up Robbie Gray for Port Adelaide's third goal to make the margin three points at half-time.

THIRD QUARTER: Robbie Gray repeats the act on Johannisen at the southern front of the centre square. The turnover finishes with Gray, unmarked in the goal, to complete the turnover play with Port Adelaide's opening goal in the decisive third term. For the first time, Port Adelaide had the lead - and the momentum.

LAST TERM: With the Western Bulldogs making a late charge, former captain Travis Boak emerged from a shadow to intercept ruckman Tim English's hopeful kick inside-50 to start an important defensive rebound.

"They are big moments that win a game of football," said Hinkley. "There was not much room for error."

There was not much room at all in a game that was loaded with more man-on-man contests than usual in a league that has emphasised players defending zones or space. Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge appropriately noted "there was a lot of pressure on the footy".

The player who made the most of this agenda was Port Adelaide midfielder Tom Rockliff, playing the second game in his recall after being dropped in response to the round 5 loss to his former club, Brisbane, at the Gabba where so many questions where asked of the midfield mix. 

Rockliff's defensive work in his return to the AFL line-up is measured with 10 tackles against Melbourne - and a team-high 15 against the Western Bulldogs. Take note that before these two matches, Rockliff's career average with tackles was five. That cliche about teaching an old dog new tricks finds another exception.

At the other extreme of experience, this Monday Night Football game could be remembered as the start of a match-up that could entertain for a decade - Peter Ladhams (Port Adelaide) v Tim English (Western Bulldogs). The final count had Ladhams with 32 hit-outs, eight in the centre; English with 26, 5. Ladhams had 18 disposals, including five clearances - and those assertive snatches of the ball at ruck contests; English had 11 disposals with one clearance. Beveridge scored it as a 0-0 draw. Hinkley noted Ladhams was more and more effective as the game progressed. The independent judges scored it as a second-half win for Ladhams. Bring on the rematch.

The weirdest note from the match statistics is Port Adelaide having fewer inside-50s than a rival (35-39) and less scores (15-17) but being more accurate. More than a tribute to the Port Adelaide attack, the fact the scoreboard worked to Port Adelaide's favour is a reflection of the continued manic work of captain Tom Jonas and his fellow defenders, in particular the uncompromising, unflinching Darcy Byrne-Jones.

It is a pity the turnaround to Game 3 in the Festival of Football does not allow a video show for the players at Alberton this week. There are some instinctive moments that would make the Port Adelaide players sit upright with pride in the team theatre of the Allan Scott Power headquarters.

QUOTE OF THE GAME

"Tom Rockliff is proud, he wants to play. There are things he does that don't get acknowledged much outside the club. He's the architect around stoppage for us.

"He enjoys a contest ... and getting in the way of people."

Senior coach Ken Hinkley on experienced Port Adelaide midfielder Tom Rockliff who finished the win against the Western Bulldogs with 15 tackles - 15 of the team's 76.

TAKE IT TO THE BANK

(five things we learned on the short turnaround)

1) JUST MAJAK. At a time when it is pretty tough to get through the day, the smile on the face of North Melbourne ruckman Majak Daw in his return to AFL action on Saturday did help. It was Daw's first big-league game since August 2018 - and was suitably capped with his scoring a goal in the last quarter against Adelaide. There are some memorable moments in this demanding season that no-one will forget.

2) FIXTURE NOTE. On the release of the AFL fixture each October-November one of the key notes taken by any non-Victorian club is: How many games at the MCG, the so-called home of football and the grand final venue? This will be the first time since Port Adelaide rose to the AFL in 1997 - playing its first national league game at the MCG - that the club will play no game in Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat or any other Victorian centre. The season will play out with just two non-Victorian clubs making it to Melbourne - Fremantle and Brisbane in the opening round. For the record, the original fixture had Port Adelaide playing twice at the MCG - in round 5 against Collingwood and round 8 against Melbourne and five times in Victoria during the 22-round home-and-away season.

3) IT CONTINUES. Anyone watching the Brisbane-Essendon game on Friday night would have been bewildered by the holding-the-ball call on Essendon midfielder Andrew McGrath after he won the ball and had Brisbane rival Jarryd Lyons put a vice-like grip on his hands and the ball. Sydney premiership midfielder Jude Bolton, a 325-game player, summed up the moment saying: "That flies in the face of the crux of football which is, get in there and win the ball. I know he went to ground or whatever, but he got straight to his agent and he's trying to burst out. I feel we're in a stage where we've got to unravel the mess that we've put in place over the years."

4) NIC NAT. From Geelong coach Chris Scott on West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui: "The problem with kicking goals against West Coast is the ball goes back to the middle ... it is hard not to be mesmerised with some of the stuff he can do."

5) SOGGY CEREAL. Port Adelaide's convincing win against Melbourne at the Gabba drew an emotional reaction from former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon at the Fox Footy desk during the breaks. But they were quickly overtaken by the words of club president Glen Bartlett in the Herald Sun newspaper, in particular the concept: "When you pull on a Melbourne jumper, we don't give them out in Weeties packets." And then there is the debate on when and how a club president speaks out.

NEXT

Port Adelaide v Richmond

Adelaide Oval

Saturday, August 8, 4.05pm (SA time)

DEFENDER v contender. 

Port Adelaide will enter this round 11 game having held the league's top ranking since the season opener - and looking more and more suited to the status carried by an AFL pacesetter.

Richmond has dismissed the image of being a team struggling to maintain its "hunger" after feasting with the 2017 and 2019 premierships.

So the 33rd Port Adelaide-Richmond encounter for AFL premiership points becomes another meaningful guide as to where this peculiar race to the flag is going.

Richmond has won three of the past four meetings between the clubs. Three of these four games have been decided by 14 points or less. In any other time, such a backdrop to a Saturday twilight clash at Adelaide Oval would have drawn a full house.

Port Adelaide ruckman Scott Lycett is expected to have his name back on the team sheet on Thursday evening. His return after missing three games with a knee injury allows the West Coast premiership winner to finally play his 100th AFL match - almost a decade after he left Alberton as the No. 29 pick in the 2010 national draft.

The tantalising thought of this to top-four clash at Adelaide Oval? How would it look when Zak Butters and Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin cross paths? Two "don't argue" players ... as Brian Taylor would say, "Oh boy, wowee!"

The Festival of Football - with 33 games in 20 days - concludes for Port Adelaide with an "away" clash against Geelong on Friday, August 14 in the new heartland of AFL football, Queensland.