ALL Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley wants for his birthday is to sing the club song with his team after a win in tomorrow night’s Qualifying Final.

Unfortunately for the Port coach, who turned 54 on Wednesday, there is a Geelong outfit standing in his side’s way.

The Cats got the better of Hinkley’s side when they last met in Round 12, giving him plenty to think about going into the opening match of the 2020 Toyota AFL Finals Series.

With defenders Tom Clurey and Ryan Burton off the injury list and Zak Butters having served his two-week suspension, Hinkley has a full-strength list at his disposal.

Normally one to share his side early, Hinkley was more reserved at a press conference before the final captain’s run at Adelaide Oval, saying he wanted to see how Clurey and Burton pulled up after training before deciding on his final team.

“There’s always risk when you bring people back who’ve had a recent injury but there’s always a risk when you play. If they’re a part of your best team you put them in the side and they make us better,” Hinkley said.

“If Ryan gets through training today, he makes us better and we strongly believe he makes us better.

“But, look, I’m not going to surprise anyone when I say Butters is playing and Burton is probably going to get picked and Clurey is probably going to come back into the team.

“They’re decisions we’re probably going to make but until we get the clarity on it, we’re better off making sure we’ve got that right.”

The potential for three inclusions means three players who featured in the win over Collingwood in Round 18, which saw Port finish on top of the ladder, would miss out against the Cats.

“We’ve got really really strong form underneath,” Hinkley said.

“There’s some people who are potentially going to miss out from last week, which is just remarkable that they’ve played as well as they have and still not made the team.

“Unlucky, and lucky - there’s that story in finals time.”

Hinkley is confident his side has learnt from the 60-point drubbing at the hands of the Cats six weeks ago.

On the night Clurey received little support up the ground and was frequently beaten by Coleman Medallist Tom Hawkins when left one-out inside 50.

Hinkley said it was not only Clurey who would be looking for an improved performance on Thursday night.

“All of our players would be keen to play their role in the team and if Tom, or Trent (McKenzie) or Tom Jonas, or Ryan Burton or whoever had to play on whoever they have to play on – because there’s some other people down there – we talk about Tom Hawkins but (Patrick) Dangerfield’s down there, and (Gary) Rohan’s down there and Gary Ablett’s down there too so there’s a few people down there we have to worry about and challenges for everyone,” the coach explained.

“We’re in really good form and they’ve been in equally good form but we haven’t lost a game since we played the Cats, we’ve learned a lot since we played Geelong, we’re playing here at Adelaide Oval, we’ve got some things in our favour that perhaps weren’t in our favour last time but that won’t make it easy.

“It’s a big game, a Qualifying Final, playing against one of the title holders over a long period of time and we look forward to it.”

Hinkley’s side has not played in a final since a heartbreaking Elimination Final against West Coast in 2017 and many players on the current list were not there that night.

Geelong is one of the more experienced finals sides while several Port players will be playing their first final, but Hinkley said his team was built to play and win finals.

“We had a really good trial game, if I can call it a trial game, against Collingwood, where they had a lot to play for and we had lots to play for,” he said.

“It was a really big moment at the end of that game for both sides. It was a contested game of football that we played up at the Gabba that really prepared us well.

“Our boys don’t need to be any better or worse than that, they just need to be honest in the contest all day.

“Finals football is tough and they know that but we’re in a really good space and we’re built to play finals footy.”

Port will name its final team on Wednesday evening.

First bounce at Adelaide Oval is at 7:40pm AEST / 7:10pm ACST on Thursday night.