This story originally appeared on afl.com

PORT ADELAIDE isn't throwing in the towel for a finals miracle, aiming to get the job done against Essendon on Friday night before having their fingers crossed for Gold Coast to pull off the near impossible.

The lowly Suns must beat the red-hot Geelong – fresh off a 133-point thumping of Fremantle – for the Power to jump over the Cats for a top-eight spot.

The Suns have an average losing margin of 75 points in their four previous visits to GMHBA Stadium.

"While there's hope there's always that possibility (of playing finals), but our aim is Essendon," Power assistant coach Brendon Lade told reporters on Monday.

"We have to win first, and whatever happens, happens.

"We're rolling out the best side we've got.

"There's some people in some good form in the SANFL we'll look at.

"There's some people in the AFL that are not quite in the form we'd like them to be in and we'll pick our best side to beat Essendon."

Midfield bull Sam Powell-Pepper had 33 disposals in the SANFL on Sunday to press his claims for a senior recall, while Lade nominated small forward Jake Neade (22 disposals and a goal) and first-year forward Jake Patmore (19 disposals and three goals) as others in contention.

The Power have lost five of their past six games after sitting comfortably at 11-4 after 16 rounds.

"We're doing a lot of things right, we're just a little bit inconsistent in making it to four quarters," Lade said.

"Maybe we haven't jelled as a team.

"The inconsistencies in our performance probably show that and that's something we've got to work on."

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