PORT Adelaide is poised to become the first AFL club this century to win the minor premiership - and McClelland Trophy - by leading the 18-team race from start to finish.

Victory against Collingwood at the new grand final venue of the Gabba on Monday night will make Port Adelaide the seventh team to complete the "wire-to-wire" run in 124 seasons of VFL-AFL competion. This would follow the 20th century achievements of Fitzroy (1904), Collingwood (1915), Essendon (1923 and 2000), Geelong (1953) and West Coast (1991).

Win, lose or draw to Collingwood in the round 18 finale to the home-and-away season, Port Adelaide will finish top or second - and is guaranteed two home finals at Adelaide Oval.

For John Worsfold, the premiership captain and coach of the Perth-based West Coast empire, this home-field advantage means more than usual for Port Adelaide -  and second-ranked Brisbane - during this year's top-eight final series.

"This time, there is an anomaly," said Worsfold on leaving Adelaide Oval for the second-last time as Essendon coach. "It is different (for Port Adelaide and Brisbane). They have played most of their games recently at home, rather than travel every second week as they would do in a normal season.

"They would feel like the Melbourne-based teams have in the past by not having to travel so much. There might be something there for those teams."

Win, lose or draw to Collingwood on Monday night, Port Adelaide will achieve its first top-four finish since 2007 - and highest ranking since senior coach Ken Hinkley started the revival in 2013. Season 2020 with 13 wins from 16 matches will lead to a higher ranking than the fifth in 2014 (14-8 in a 22-game minor round) and 2017 (14-8).

And again Worsfold leaves a meaningful statement on what this top-two ranking means.

"(Port Adelaide) did not fluke it," said Worsfold. "You stay top for a long time, it shows how good you are. And in a 17-game season when everyone plays each other once, there is no easy draw.

"They've worked hard for six to seven years. They've committed themselves to it; they've stuck at it," added Worsfold noting a national AFL with its equalisation levers of salary caps and drafts - unlike the old State leagues of the VFL and SANFL - does not allow grand, traditional clubs to be more successful or turn around their fortunes quicker than others.

Port Adelaide might not have the label of premiership favourite, even after leading this demanding AFL home-and-away season from the start in mid-March. But it has stripped itself of one stigma by finding repetitive wins - and, for the first time since entering the AFL in 1997, following up each of the three losses with a telling victory.

"We have been really solid with our consistency," says Hinkley. "In the past 18 months, everyone has knocked us for being inconsistent. That is what I am proud of - we have been really consistent."

In victory on Monday night, Port Adelaide would be earning its fourth McClelland Trophy as AFL minor premier adding to the collection from the triple run from 2002-2004.

ROUND 17

Port Adelaide 11.13 (79) d Essendon 4.5 (29)

CHARLIE Dixon - like his Port Adelaide team - is to achieve a notable ranking on Monday night. He will join an elite group of Port Adelaide key forwards to be in the top-five placings for the Coleman Medal as the AFL leading goalkicker in home-and-away matches.

Scott Cummings did so in Port Adelaide's inaugural AFL season in 1997; Warren Tredrea in 2001 and 2004; and Jay Schulz in 2014.

Dixon finished his 150th AFL game - the 50-point win against Essendon in the rain at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night - second on the Coleman Medal leaderboard, nine goals behind fellow power forwards Tom Hawkins (40.23 in 16 games this season with Geelong) and marginally ahead of Josh Kennedy (31.18 in 15 with West Coast) by having scored three more behinds.

With Dixon (31.21 in 15 matches), these three big men have dismissed the smaller opportunist forwards' early claim for the Coleman Medal.

More important for Port Adelaide - and senior coach Ken Hinkley who made the big play to lure Dixon to Alberton from Gold Coast at the end of 2015 - the 200cm beacon at the goalfront is ending the doubts created by the horrific leg injuries suffered in a marking contest against West Coast late in 2018 ... and he is starting the debate on which is his better season, this or 2017 (49.30 in 23 games, a season high among his five years at Port Adelaide).

"Charlie is in a really good space - and he knows his role," says Hinkley. "And we do kick the ball to Charlie ... and he is prepared to stand there and cop it; one on three, he does not mind. He is playing great footy."

But Dixon is not - as has been portrayed at times this season - the lone piston in Port Adelaide's high-scoring game. Just as there was a strong, team-driven goalkicking contribution against North Melbourne in round 16, the Port Adelaide midfield again made its mark on the scoreboard against Essendon on Saturday.

Dixon's two goals were the team high in the 11-goal tally than included singles from nine players - Travis Boak, Xavier Duursma, Brad Ebert, Robbie Gray, comeback ruckman Peter Ladhams, Steven Motlop, Sam Powell-Pepper, Tom Rockliff and Ollie Wines.

For the first time in 545 AFL home-and-away matches and finals since 1997, Port Adelaide had 10 goalscorers in a game .. and therefore cannot be described as heavily reliant or singularly focused on Dixon.

The AFL's official statisicians attributed just one score assist to Gray - the last-quarter tap to Boak after defender Darcy Bryne-Jones' kick bounced off Ladhams' frame at the southern end.  But there were more of those one-touch or deft-pass moments that suggest Gray is primed to change the course of finals with his sublime, subtle ways.

And Dixon? Hinkley knows the power of his main man at the goalfront from the memories of that double extra-time elimination final against West Coast at Adelaide Oval in 2017 - 18 kicks among his 23 disposals, seven marks and 3.6 while earning 16 contested possessions.

Charlie Dixon is one player I am really excited to see come finals ... his last final (in 2017) was outstanding.

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley 

Win No. 13 came for Port Adelaide without any pain on the injury list and more reason to believe the two-ruck model with Ladhams supporting the hard-galloping Scott Lycett can work in shortened games, particularly when both ruckmen can contribute to the scoreboard as go-to forwards around Dixon.

(And it certainly is "2020" when Lycett is prepared to take three running bounces from defence on a rain-soaked eastern flank at Adelaide Oval, significantly adding to his 10-year career tally of .... 13.)

Hinkley is - unlike some finals-bound senior coaches - blessed with "a really healthy" squad that offers as many as 33 players to consider from the selection whiteboard. And the confidence of this group has strengthened while working through the bumps during the recent wins against Hawthorn and Sydney.

"(Despite being five points down at quarter time) that was more of a four-quarter performance," Hinkley said. "We have had a really good in the past month as far as preparation goes; we're on track I reckon with all our planning and thoughts."

QUOTES OF THE GAME

"The group showed tonight that they're not getting distracted and they're prepared to play every game on its merit."

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley

"Sam Powell-Pepper is back to his best. Full credit to Travis Boak who has taken him in and taught him to be a professional AFL footballer. He's been so tough."

Essendon great Matthew Lloyd

"You're talking about a (Port Adelaide) team that is right in the premiership window in terms of age and experience."

Essendon coach John Worsfold

NEXT 

Collingwood v Port Adelaide

Gabba, Brisbane

Monday, September 21. 6.45pm (SA time)

PORT Adelaide opened the season in south-east Queensland against the AFL's youngest club. It will close the truncated home-and-away series with the last match of the 17-game fixture a little further north - in Brisbane but still in south-east Queensland - against one of the VFL's foundation clubs, Collingwood (established 1892).

Port Adelaide claimed top spot by beating Gold Coast. It will complete the run of being the AFL's top team from start to finish of the AFL home-and-away season by beating Collingwood at the Gabba on Monday night.

This makes for a good moment to audit the journey that began on Saturday, March 21 and involved just three venues:

HOME GAMES (nine in total)

At Adelaide Oval (7): Adelaide (W, round 2), St Kilda (L, 8); Western Bulldogs (W, 10); Richmond (W, 11); Hawthorn (W, 13); Sydney (W, 14); Essendon (W, 17).

At Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast (2): West Coast (W, 4); Greater Western Sydney (W, 6).

At Gabba, Brisbane: None.

AWAY GAMES (eight in total)

At Adelaide Oval: None.

At Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast (4): Gold Coast (W, round 1); Fremantle (W, 3); Geelong (L, 12); North Melbourne (W, 16).

At Gabba, Brisbane (4): Brisbane (L, 5); Carlton (W, 7); Melbourne (W, 9); Collingwood (to be played, 18).

TAKE IT TO THE BANK

(five things we have learned this week)

1) NIGHT PREMIERSHIPS. Another tradition falls with the AFL grand final being played at the Gabba in Brisbane next month - and the game also moves from its traditional daytime start to have the first bounce at 6.30pm Queensland time (7pm SA time) on Saturday, October 24. The phrase "night premiership" - used to describe the Cup titles won in pre-season or midweek competitions - takes on an entirely new meaning.

2) TEAM GAME. He might be an acquired taste, but former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas made another point that will resonate after Richmond beat Geelong in the so-called "grand final preview" at Metricon Stadium on Friday night: "Classic difference between a great side and a great team. Cats still rely on individual brilliance and still struggle on big stage while Tigers are a 'connected', selfless team ..." Thomas also hit on a key point about the state of the game as it is influenced by a critical theme held by some AFL coaches: "They don't want to win; they just don't want to lose. Massive difference." Indeed there is.

3) QUOTE, UNQUOTE. At a time when AFL clubs have learned how the game's soul is driven by club members and fans, there is this timely reflection from Port Adelaide vice-captain Ollie Wines: "We gave (co-captaincy with Tom Jonas) a go at the time because it was the best thing for the club and unfortunately it didn't work results-wise. This year, we listened to our members ... and we went back to the traditional one captain."

4) SHIPPY'S HONOUR. Former SA Football Commission member David Shipway, who has strongly backed Port Adelaide in the AFL and regularly attends the club's annual meetings, collected the Jack Titus Award for "outstanding service to the game" at his home club of West Adelaide on Friday night at Richmond Oval. He has his name put up in gold letters at AFL House in Melbourne, alongside that of devoted Port Adelaide boot studder Alf Trebilcock who was presented his Jack Titus Award in January 2013.

5) FIXTURE FANTASY. For all the fuss that was made on how the AFL could model the fixture for Season 2021 - including the proposal of a 28-round home-and-away series - there is one question that cannot be ignored. Should the AFL even bother with a traditional "unveil" of a fixture in November if it becomes a fantasy paper, as it did this year with the COVID pandemic? Or would it be best to wait until February (with the hope of greater clarity on the state of travel across Australia) to determine how the season should unfold?

ANNIVERSARY NOTE

PORT Adelaide next week will achieve its best finish to an AFL home-and-away series since 2007 - and be in the frame for its best tilt at the AFL premiership since 2014 when the campaign ended at the MCG with the three-point preliminary final loss to eventual premier Hawthorn.

Perfect timing, as this year marks the 130th anniversary of Port Adelaide achieving its first of Australian football's equivalent of the UEFA Champions League title - the Champions of Australia crown.

Port Adelaide had won its third SA Football Association premiership in 1890, dethroning Norwood with a 16-2 win-loss count in a competition based on home-and-away wins with no finals. The decisive game was on Saturday, August 30 when a then-record crowd of 11,500 turned up at Adelaide Oval to see Port Adelaide beat Norwood 3-2 to create an unassailable lead at the top of the six-team ladder.

In the VFA (six years before the split that created the VFL), South Melbourne won its fifth premiership - and completed a hat-trick combining the 1888, 1889 and 1890 titles - with a 16-2-1 win-loss-draw record.

Adelaide Oval was the scene of the second "Australian championship" decider between Victorian and South Australian premiers on Saturday, October 4, 1890. Port Adelaide's victory - with a 7-6 scoreline, dismissing behinds as was the game's way then - against the champions from the home of football in Victoria drew comparisons with Australia beating England in Test cricket.

Under the headline, The "Ashes" Remain In South Australia, the Evening Journal reported:

On Saturday for the second time in the history of Australian football the two leading teams in Victoria and South Australia met to decide which twenty would occupy the position of champion of Australia. Two years ago these matches were first inaugurated, and then at Kensington Norwood administered three defeats to South Melbourne.

During the week the weather had gradually been getting warmer, and on Saturday, when Port Adelaide and South Melbourne - the rival premiers - met, the ground was hard and dry, so hard, indeed, that it was difficult to keep from slipping. Excessively unpleasant weather prevailed during the whole afternoon, the oppressiveness of the atmosphere telling severely upon the players.

The home team turned out with their best twenty, but the visitors were without Purdy - the man of the year in the other colony - Burn, their great rover, and Barrett, the goalsneak. However, they had some capable substitutes.

South Melbourne led 4-1 during the first half before Port Adelaide pegged back the lead to make it 4-3 at half-time.

When to all appearances the magenta men were going to cave in, they came out quite differently and overhauled their opponents.

Scores were tied at 6-6 at the last change, although South Melbourne was paying for its inaccuracy - 6.12 to 6.6 with the behinds not counting to decide the match.

Only one goal was scored in the last term, by Port Adelaide hero John McKenzie.

The magenta men with long kicks took the leather back to the south end, where it remained, the home team straining every nerve for victory. A brilliant run by Webb, followed by clever play by A. Bushby, put the ball in J. McKenzie's hand, and a tremendous cheer announced that the home team had secured the lead. With three minutes to play the Ports with great dash took up the attack ... the result was, Port Adelaide 7 goals, 10 behinds; South Melbourne 6 goals 13 behinds.

Port Adelaide was Champions of Australia for the first time.

Port Adelaide collected another three Champions of Australia crowns in 1910, 1913 and with the Invincibles in 1914.