TODD MARSHALL has given the strongest indication yet that he is ready to play in next week’s Preliminary Final with the young forward saying his injured shoulder is feeling good.

The 21-year-old landed awkwardly in the early stages of Port Adelaide’s Qualifying Final win over Geelong and there were fears he had dislocated his shoulder.

Marshall returned to the field to play out the game and says he expects to have no issues in fronting up for next Friday’s Prelim against either Richmond or St Kilda.

“The shoulder is feeling pretty good considering it’s only a couple of days after the game,” he told portadelaidefc.com.au.

“It’s just an AC joint injury which is pretty common so there should be no dramas in a week and a half, should be right to go.”

Marshall admitted to fearing the worst when the incident first happened.

But he said once it was clear he could play on, he was eager to get back on the park.

“I was pretty keen once I knew it wasn’t dislocated to get back on the ground,” he explained.

“I went down and got it strapped up and came back on.

“The coaches were pretty happy that I kept the rotations for the team.

“I didn’t really have much of an impact but just the structure and the stuff that I brought was good and it was just good for my belief that I could stay out there and keep competing.”

The 198cm tall, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday on Thursday, had a few tests during the game, including an incident where he crashed a marking pack to bring the ball to ground in the third quarter.

His work led to a goal to teammate Brad Ebert.

“I had a couple of contests before then, where I’d had a pretty big knocks so I gained some confidence and I sort of flew for the mark,” Marshall said.

“We have a big thing in our forward line about bringing the ball to ground and letting the Motlops and Rozees and Eberts do what they do so it was good to get a goal in the third quarter there for the team.”

He later chimed in with an important goal himself, which sealed the result in the last quarter.

The effort from 50 metres out on a slight angle saw Marshall celebrate full of emotion, and his teammates came running in from all directions to join him.

“I think everything was just going out. I just had a natural reaction to a big moment,” Marshall said of his celebration.

“The five minutes leading up to that goal were pretty stressful, Geelong were coming at us a bit and to get on the end of one and finish the work that the boys did was pleasing.”

And despite his injury, Marshall is desperate to get back on the field again.

He and his teammates enjoyed a few days off but have been back on the track since Monday and in fine spirit.

“We’re so excited. (The Preliminary Final) is a week and a half away and we’re already ready to play,” Marshall said.

“It’s going to be good to be back in front of the home crowd again and hopefully we’ll be allowed a few more fans and they can keep supporting us like they have all year.”

Port will face the winner of this week’s Richmond v St Kilda Semi Final at Adelaide Oval on Friday 16 October from 7:20pm.