PORT ADELAIDE has marked its return as a highly competitive AFL team with - as the Americans would say - a "winning season" (more wins than losses) in seven of the past nine years.

At best, Port Adelaide this season can square the count at 11-11, as it did in 2019 - another season that fell short of expectation with no appearance in the AFL top-eight finals. (The only "losing season" since the dark chapter ended was in 2016, 10-12).

To maintain the high standards set at Alberton during the Ken Hinkley era, Port Adelaide must win its remaining three home-and-away matches, starting with Saturday night's big challenge against Richmond at Adelaide Oval.

Richmond is still in contention for a top-eight finals berth. The other two games are against non-contenders Essendon and Adelaide. But that season-closer against Adelaide has its own storyline, as all Showdowns do.

Finishing the home-and-away season with three consecutive wins would mark the best winning run at Port Adelaide since the 0-5 start was followed with four consecutive wins. Port Adelaide has squared the ledger twice this season, at 7-7 and 8-8.

Port Adelaide re-acquaints itself with Richmond eight weeks after the round 13 encounter at the MCG, which ended in a 12-point defeat - one of the "close but no cigar" moments that have defined Port Adelaide this season with 10 games decided by 14 points or less (and only two won by Port Adelaide).

Port Adelaide worked key forwards Jeremy Finlayson and Charlie Dixon in ruck that Thursday night at the G.

Richmond had Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin - albeit a very sore "Dusty" - that evening when Port Adelaide made a strong start with two goals in the first six minutes ... and then conceded five unanswered goals to be 19 points down at quarter-time.

Much has changed during the following eight weeks at both clubs.

Port Adelaide has had a 3-4 win-loss count; Richmond, 3-3 and a draw against finals-bound Fremantle.

There is no question on what to expect from 10th-placed Richmond. It is playing with no room for error in the chase for a top-eight berth.

Port Adelaide (8-11, 11th) is playing for pride, answers to the questions that have marked a frustrating 2022 season - and new hope for 2023.  

"Port Adelaide is so professional," says Richmond ruck coach and former Port Adelaide SANFL player Ivan Maric, "full of talent, full of hard-working players and they have been a really good team for a long time. I expect them to come out, play their brand that they have established for a number of years now - and want to win.

"We want them to play like that."

"We have a responsibility to go with 'winning'. That is what we are going to do. We are going to keep going after winning to give ourselves the best chance to win as many games as we possibly can between now and the end of our season. We will never stop trying to win every opportunity we get. If others have a different view, I don't share it ..."

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley

RUCKS OF OLD

BACK to convention this week.

There is - after much success in winning the ground ball from makeshift ruckman Jeremy Finlayson - the return of the specialist, dedicated ruckman.

Mid-season rookie draftee Brynn Teakle returns to the AFL line-up for his second national league game after a memorable 35 minutes against Sydney at Adelaide Oval on June 18 (when he was sent to hospital before half-time for surgery on a broken collarbone).

Finlayson and his ruck partner Charlie Dixon return to key forward roles to cover the loss of team leading goalscorer Todd Marshall (COVID protocols) and Mitch Georgaides (form).

Teakle will work against experienced Richmond ruckman Toby Nankervis and not the Nankervis-Ivan Soldo tandem. And Richmond ruck coach Ivan Maric warns Nankervis will test Teakle beyond the battle for hit-outs.

"It is a big part of Toby's game (to follow up the hit-out)," Maric said. And this trait seems to have been forced by the Champion Data numbers noting Nankervis wins 47.3 per cent of the ruck contests he attends - an above average figure. But his taps go to Richmond's advantage only 29.2 per cent of the time - below league average.

Teakle marks the tape measure at 204 centimetres. Nankervis is 199cm.

Teakle tips the scales at 96 kilograms. Nankervis at 102kg.

Teakle, 22, on Friday signed a contract extension keeping the East Fremantle recruit at Alberton until at least the end of next season.

AT THE OVAL

ADELAIDE OVAL has been the perfect setting for so many remarkable - and extremely entertaining - Port Adelaide-Richmond clashes.

The 2020 preliminary final, decided by six points in Richmond's favour to allow the Victorian club to continue its premiership run.

Then by two points - in Port Adelaide's favour - in the round 4 clash last season.

The first AFL final played at Adelaide Oval - with Port Adelaide's eight-goal opening and 14-goal first half (while wearing the club's traditional black-and-white bars) - in 2014.

There have been nine Port Adelaide-Richmond clashes at Adelaide Oval for AFL premiership points. Port Adelaide has won five, lost four.

The tighest game was the two-point clash last season. The biggest margin is the 57 points from the 2014 elimination final, the first Port Adelaide-Richmond AFL encounter at the redeveloped city ground.

The past six games between the two clubs at the Oval have been decided by two, six, 21, seven, 14 and 13 points.

There is almost a "Showdown theme" to this rivalry when it plays out at the Oval.

SCORING THEMES

ONLY a few weeks ago the question was how would Port Adelaide fit Charlie Dixon, Jeremy Finlayson, Todd Marshall and Mitch Georgiades into the forward-50 arc?

Marshall will miss this match by the COVID protocols. Georgiades has had the goalkicking yips - and a telling fall in form while his confidence has been sapped by the misses in his shots at goal.

From a makeshift ruck tandem, the firm of Finlayson & Dixon turns to forming a partnership as key forwards replacing Marshall & Georgiades.

Port Adelaide's season average of 11 goals is the lowest (excluding the COVID-affected 2020 season) since 2012.

Richmond's scoring average is significantly up on last season's 79-point mark to 94 points.

DEFENCE WINS

PORT Adelaide's defence has either appeared to have played too high or too aggressively and generally paid dearly for being caught out of shape when forced to defend on a turnover.

During the past three losses, Port Adelaide has conceded 83 points to AFL premier Melbourne, 106 points to league leader Geelong and 88 points to the finals-bound Collingwood - all score above the season average for points conceded of 74.

"As a first-year line coach," says Port Adelaide defence coach Chad Cornes, "I am questioning myself, whether I am doing everything right during the week to make sure the backs and team defence is at the level it needs to be. During the past couple of weeks, it has not - not from our backs and not from team defence. I am always looking at myself and things I could do more or do better during the week. All the coaches are.

"We are all - players and coaches - in together looking at ways to be better. We understand this year has been way off where we expected and need to be."

Richmond's defence is noted, with its extra number behind the ball, for working opposition teams into costly turnovers. But there also has been the unusual leakage in the Richmond defence recently, particularly in four of the past five games in which Richmond has conceded more than 92 points.

"We’ve just got to be perfect this week," says Richmond coach Damien Hardwick.

Whichever team makes the better corrections in defence will be best placed to win.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"A lot of the indicators - numbers we value - are really, really high with Port Adelaide. They are a side that is in form, but hasn't quite got the result they have been after during the past couple of weeks. Since round 12 or 13, when they got all their players back, they have started to become the Port Adelaide we all know and love."

Richmond premiership coach - and Port Adelaide premiership player - Damien Hardwick

BIRD SEED

(the little stuff that counts most)

Where: Adelaide Oval

When: Saturday, August 6, 2022

Time: 7.10pm (SA time)

Last time: Port Adelaide 10.5 (65) l Richmond 11.11 (77) at the MCG, round 13, June 9, 2022

Overall: Port Adelaide 20, Richmond 15, one drawn

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

Scoring average: Port Adelaide 89, 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 and (79-77) at Adelaide Oval in round 4, April 9, last year; 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 (5-4), Football Park (10-5), MCG (2-1-4), Docklands (2-2), Marrara Oval, Darwin (1-0)

By States and territories - South Australia (15-9), Victoria (4-1-6), Northern Territory (1-0).

SCOREBOARDS can tell lies deep into a game. But premiership tables do not by round 21. 

Port Adelaide can lament losing many games this AFL season by small margins of two goals or less. But there is no hiding from the real story of an 8-12 win-loss count that carried another defeat at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, this time by 38 points to would-be finalist Richmond.

Port Adelaide has slipped - not just from the pacesetting form that delivered top-four finishes in 2020 and last season, but from the real contenders who chase top-eight finals berths.

Why? It is a question that needs to be answered with list-management moves in October and November when Port Adelaide will need reinforcements in all three playing zones. It is a theme that dictates more work, both on skills and decision-making, needs to unfold on the track during the pre-season. And there will need to be a new edge from a team that appears to have lost its definition.

MG FANS MVP | Vote for your best on ground against the Tigers

After 20 games - with no match remaining against a top-eight challenger - Port Adelaide has a 4-10 record against the 11 teams ranked above it - and just one win against a team that is currently in the top eight (Sydney).

As much as the 0-5 start hurt, there is no dismissing Port Adelaide cannot stand alongside any top-eight side to say: "We measure up."

Richmond on Saturday night overwhelmed Port Adelaide with scoring power - and, quite differently for Richmond, clearance power at the contests.

Port Adelaide battled. But it never commanded the tone of the game nor its opponent.

Richmond's dominant seven-goal rush during the game-breaking third term had the Victorian club six points off the watershed 100-point mark at three quarter-time. Port Adelaide has not conceded so much (94 points) in three quarters in any other game this season.

Richmond's final score of 16.13 (109) is the second-highest score conceded by Port Adelaide this year - and had Richmond not been so inaccurate, particularly with Shai Bolton's 4.5, the 120 points handed to Hawthorn in round two might have been surpassed.

The premiership table cannot lie when Port Adelaide is 12th with a 8-12 record.

It is as striking in its tone, just as the tell-tale Port Adelaide match-day "barometer" that defines this team - the contested possession was lost, 173-140.

This game has two significant medical notes which could influence selection in the coming fortnight.

Port Adelaide's best-performed player of the season, midfielder Connor Rozee, was off the field during the second term with concern for his left knee. After tests on the sidelines, Rozee entered the western changerooms to have the joint strapped. His tests on the sidelines were not convincing, forcing Rozee to retreat to the main changerooms just before half-time.

The medical substitute, half-back Riley Bonner, was not activated as Rozee returned with his team-mates after the half-time break - and started the second half on attack.

The power - and stability - of Rozee's legs was not in question in the 10th minute of the last term when he soared onto the shoulders of Daniel Rioli for an exhilarating mark in the rain at the top of the goalsquare at the northern end.

Port Adelaide defender Darcy Byrne-Jones was benched in the seventh minute of the last quarter after taking a heavy knock to the head from Kamdyn McIntosh in a marking contest. He did return after a six-minute rest - as a forward.  

Mid-season rookie draftee Brynn Teakle returned to the line-up for his second AFL game, but did not get the honours of taking the first centre bounce - a task kept with key forward Jeremy Finlayson.

The athletic ruckman played just 35 minutes - "the best 35 minutes of my life" - before breaking a collarbone in his AFL debut against Sydney on June 18. This time, Teakle survived - and learned - in a full hit-out that added to the anticipation the East Fremantle recruit has generated since arriving from Western Australian in early June. 

Teakle won 21 hit-outs, followed up with three clearances - and influenced field play with eight tackles.

Teakle and Finlayson sharing the bulk of the ruck work allowed All-Australian key forward Charlie Dixon to restore himself as Port Adelaide's prime target in an attack without 2022 leading goalscorer Todd Marshall (COVID protocols) and Mitch Georgiades.

The final count was all in Richmond's favour - 52-31 with the hit-outs. And there was no win for Port Adelaide at ground level. Richmond won all clearances 45-39 - 13-9 at centre stoppages. These numbers - along with the -33 differential at contested possession - will make for a tough review at Alberton on Monday.

Port Adelaide's season is marked by costly momentum swings from which the opposition has built scoreboard pressure. And there are the turnovers.

The first term brought the test of coping with opposition dominance. From the 15th to 20th minutes of the first term Port Adelaide's team defence was challenged with Richmond book-ending goals from Tom Lynch and Jack Ross (and scoring 2.3 in total) while having six quickfire shots at goal.

Richmond's 4.4 from 16 inside-50 entries - compared to Port Adelaide's seven for a super-efficient 3.1 - in the first term created a nine-point gap that was earned not just by Richmond being assertive on every forward thrust, but also from taking an aggressive approach with its defensive plays (as measured by 18 tackles in the opening quarter).

The second term exposed Port Adelaide on turnovers in the back half of the field. Three of Richmond's seven first-half goals were from Port Adelaide failing to find the sure exit point, usually by working a handball where a kick would have been more prudent. Such slip-ups eroded many of the gains Port Adelaide made during the term, particularly at stoppages (19-10 in Port Adelaide's favour, despite losing the hit-outs 15-24), to have the quarter-time gap cut by just one point.

Two of Port Adelaide's three goals in the term were from long plays rather than pin-point moves to leading forwards. First-year defender Jase Burgoyne scored his second career goal, this one from outside 50 deep into time-on. Experienced forward Robbie Gray scored the other on a free kick after a deliberate rushed behind.

There were more inside-50s this term, almost twice as many (13) as in the first quarter. 

The third term had a significant momentum shift for Richmond from the 10th minute when it started a five-goal run. A team that has not made its name by being superior at stoppages won 14 more clearances than Port Adelaide with the experienced Richmond duo of Dion Prestia and Brownlow Medallist Trent Cotchin chalking up 11.

Richmond's attack was a torment to a usually solid Port Adelaide defence.

The challenging match-up inside Richmond's forward arc was for key defender Trent McKenzie on Richmond's leading goalkicker this season, Tom Lynch; and for the usually defiant Ryan Burton against Shai Bolton.

Captain Tom Jonas marked Jack Riewoldt, the other long-standing member of this key forward tandem that has marked Richmond's premiership reign.

By the middle of the third term - after Lynch had kicked four and Riewoldt had one - the task of guarding Lynch fell to All-Australian Aliir Aliir while McKenzie moved onto Riewoldt.

Lynch finished with four goals, as did Bolton, and Riewoldt one. 

Port Adelaide makes its last road trip of the home-and-away season next weekend with a rematch against Essendon, this time at Docklands Stadium in west Melbourne on Sunday afternoon. The season will close at home with the Showdown at Adelaide Oval on Saturday week.

At best, Port Adelaide will end a frustrating season at 10-12.

PORT ADELAIDE v RICHMOND

PORT ADELAIDE            3.1    6.4     9.6     10.11 (71)

RICHMOND                 4.4    7.6    14.10    16.13 (109)

BEST - Port Adelaide: Wines, Butters, Houston, Boak.

GOALS - Port Adelaide: Dixon, Finlayson 2, Bergman, Burgoyne, Butters, Duursma, Gray, Rozee.  

INJURY - Rozee (left knee), Byrne-Jones (knock to head).

MEDICAL SUBSTITUTE: Riley Bonner (not activated).

CROWD: 27,051 at Adelaide Oval.

NEXT: Essendon at Docklands on Sunday.