SIR Edmund Hillary took seven weeks to complete the climb from base camp to the summit of Mount Everest. The return trip from the world's highest mountain took just three days after he savoured the view for just 15 minutes.

Football's climb to its highest peak is no less challenging.

Port Adelaide on Friday night - with the much-noted national television audience - will be watched intently by many wanting to judge if the Easter weekend loss to West Coast was an aberration ... or a stumble that sends Ken Hinkley's team tumbling on a mountain that has claimed many false expeditions.

And there is just as much to learn about just how long does Richmond - after its torturous 30-year climb to football's peak in 2017, 2019 and last year - intend to enjoy the view.

The preliminary final rematch does not have the grand prize that was on offer at Adelaide Oval on Friday, October 16, 2020. But it will generate many conclusions on both the winner and the loser of this rematch and their status in this year's longer climb to Australian football's greatest peak.

Both Port Adelaide and Richmond have or are in the process of change to better their chances of being the last team standing on the mountain on September 25.

The 2020 preliminary final loss - with a scoreline of 6.10 (46) to 6.4 (40) - reaffirmed Port Adelaide needed to nail more scores rather than generate any more scoring opportunities. Until last Saturday's 37-point loss to another high-mountain climber, West Coast in Perth, Port Adelaide seemed to have found some meaningful answers to this challenge for grander returns on its heavy count of inside-50 sorties.

"We have worked on (achieving greater efficiency) all summer, all pre-season," Hinkley said. "The game has changed a bit (this season) and some of the opportunities you get are on different positions of the ground - and teams can penetrate from a lot further back than they have in the past."

Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick says he has known for some time - particularly since competitive matches resumed at the end of summer - that his playbook needed some work to keep his ambitious team on sound footing at the top of the mountain.

"The game is evolving ... we've known it; we just have to make sure we tinker with our game plan to make sure we challenge ourselves to get better again," said Hardwick after the home loss to Sydney. "We look at everything as a gift, (even a defeat) teaches us some lessons. That's the way you've got to look at it from our point of view."

Hinkley, his coaching staff and the Port Adelaide players will again be watched - by a sell-out crowd of 38,000 at the Oval and a national free-to-air television audience - for their ability to contain the match-winning capabilities of Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin.

"What I have noticed in the past three premierships that Richmond has won is that 'Dusty' is hard to match up on," Hinkley said of the midfielder who becomes the third firebrand with Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch in the Richmond forward-50.

"He does some incredible stuff. (His coach) says Dustin does what Dustin likes to do, so there is a challenge in that for the opposition. We are really aware of his quality, but we are equally aware of the quality of the opposition as a collective. He gets a lot of opportunities because of his team.

"We will do what we can do limit his damage. He is a high-quality player. We are confident that we can control their team - and he is a part of it."

Hinkley has given himself greater flexibility in his defence and midfield by dismissing second ruckman Peter Ladhams to call up half-back and 2020 No.16 draftee Lachie Jones for his AFL debut on his 19th birthday.

One team will plant its feet firmer on football's unforgiving mountain. The other will be dealing with two consecutive stumbles - something Port Adelaide has not known since Round 20, 2019. Richmond successfully repositioned its premiership defence after consecutive losses in Rounds 3 and 4 last year.

"We have two teams tomorrow who are both trying to respond (to defeats), Hinkley said. "Who wins the 'response ticket' everyone wants to put on the table?

"Both teams are trying to create their season this year. It is nothing about last year. We have learned more from the West Coast game (last week) to put into this week than we will from revisiting last year's preliminary final."

BIRD SEED

(the little stuff that counts most)

Where: Adelaide Oval

When: Friday, April  9, 2021

Time: 7.20pm (SA time)

Last time: Port Adelaide 6.4 (40) lost to Richmond 6.10 (46) at Adelaide Oval, preliminary final, October 16, 2020

Overall: Port Adelaide 19, Richmond 14, one drawn 

Past five games (most recent first): L W L L W

Scoring average: Port Adelaide 90, Richmond 84

Drawn game: Port Adelaide 16.10 (106) drew with Richmond 16.10 (106) at the MCG in round 23, September 2, 2012

Tightest winning margin - Port Adelaide by two points (32-30) at Football Park in round 11, June 12, 1999; Richmond by four points (127-123) at Football Park in round 13, June 21, 2008

Biggest margin - Port Adelaide by 84 points (154-70) at Football Park in round 12, June 23, 2002; Richmond by 85 points (146-81) at the MCG in round 21, August 24, 1997

By venues: Adelaide Oval (4-4), Football Park (10-5), MCG (2-1-3), Docklands (2-2), Marrara Oval, Darwin (1-0)

By States and territories - South Australia (14-9), Victoria (4-1-5), Northern Territory (1-0).