Dan Houston says it will be an all-in defensive effort to shut down one of the league's strongest forward lines. Image: AFL Photos.

DAN Houston is not seeing a problem - but an opportunity. And the Port Adelaide defender expects the lessons he and his team-mates are gaining from being on the edge since a 0-5 start will carry benefits to future seasons.

Port Adelaide enters the last five weeks of the home-and-away series ranked 11th with an 8-9 win-loss record and the need to win at least four games while lifting its percentage (106.9 per cent). This challenge begins against league leader Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon.

And the need for belief can be stoked by the memory of having beaten Geelong in high-stake games - the qualifying finals of 2020 and 2021 - at Adelaide Oval.

"We know our best footy can beat Geelong," Houston said on Thursday. "We will be looking to take the positives out of those qualifying finals when our pressure was really high. That is where we will start - and we will try to get our supporters involved as well.

"It a hard task (maintaining belief), but it is a week-by-week process. If the mathematics say we can still make the finals, we are going to believe. We are going to keep pushing to make ourselves better so we do get something out of this at the end of the year - in the meantime, we will keep pushing for that potential finals spot.

"It has been pretty cut-throat since we were 0-5. We have focused on week by week since then - and we will do the same this weekend.

"Geelong is a really tough task whether that be at their home at Kardinia Park or here in Adelaide. We know we have our work cut out for us. But we are ready for the fight."

Port Adelaide's defence - which was off its best against AFL premier Melbourne at Alice Springs on Sunday - faces major challenges from the Geelong power pairing of key forwards in Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins and livewire opportunist Tyson Stengle.

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Dan Houston press conference - 21 July 2022 | PTV

Dan Houston speaks to the media at Alberton Oval

The review at Alberton this week reaffirmed defence goes further than the men working in the defensive 50.

"As with each week," said Houston, a member of the usually tight Port Adelaide back seven, "we will be looking for the whole team to buy into defence to combat that.

"We have match-ups that we go with, but we need the whole team to buy in (with team defence) and help out where they can. With (Kysaiah Pickett's 6.1 for Melbourne on Sunday) it was not one person to put that down to - it is a whole team thing. We have to be responsible for our man and make sure we get our job done.

"(For Stengle) any of our high backs - me, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Riley Bonner, Ryan Burton - can definitely take that match-up. We will each find ourselves on him at some time. We will do our homework on him and when it is our turn to be on him, we will make sure we get the job done.

"Pickett and Stengle are pretty similar players," added Houston with Stengle having scored 33.21 this season - and 7.4 during the past month.

"We will learn from last week of how Kysaiah got off the chain a little bit. But it is a whole team buy-in - when it is your turn to get the job done on Stengle, we have to make sure we get the job done. He is dangerous around the goals. Any chance he gets, he usually has a shot on goal. So we will make sure we do our homework."

Dan Houston says it will be a joint effort between him and his fellow high backs, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Riley Bonner and Ryan Burton, to contain dangerous forward Tyson Stengle. Image: AFL Photos.

Port Adelaide again was exposed by opposition momentum by allowing Melbourne to score seven unanswered goals at the weekend - a theme that also emerged against Fremantle and cannot be allowed to repeat against Geelong. 

"There are two different challenges with Melbourne and Geelong. Geelong are very defensively sound and they like to speed the ball up by hand," Houston said.

"Momentum in all games of footy at the moment is proving pretty vital at stages. If we work through that we know we need to neutralise (the opposition at contests) or get repeat stoppages. That is one thing we have looked at for when momentum goes the opposition's way."

Forwards coach Nathan Bassett took issue with the turnover count - and goals conceded on turnovers - against Melbourne.

"When the opposition brings its pressure, we need to clear the ball rather than give the opposition the ball - that is one thing we have definitely worked at," Houston said.

Port Adelaide’s selection puzzle - that will be closed on Thursday evening with the announcement of the match 22 plus the emergencies in contention as the medical substitute - was made clearer at training at Alberton on Thursday morning.

Half-forward Lachie Jones will not resume after being on the sidelines for the past fortnight with a hamstring strain. He was absent from training to be part of the AFL presentation of the 36 - 18 plus 18 - AFL and AFLW teams in Melbourne in the lead-up to Season 7 of the national women's league. This will feature Port Adelaide for the first time.

The questions to be answered at match committee are:

Does Orazio Fantasia play his first AFL game this season after the past month on the sidelines recuperating from quad muscle issues?

"Orazio looked good out there (at training) today," Houston said. "He got through training, so he will definitely will be a chance. We will find out later today ...

"It is a risk if he plays SANFL ... or AFL. It is up to the coaches to work through the risk v reward to see how that weighs up. But we know we will have full faith in Orazio no matter where he plays. He has to get out on the park eventually. We will look forward to seeing him in some game this weekend."

Does mid-season rookie draftee Brynn Teakle return to lead the ruck after six weeks in the rehab room recovering from a broken collarbone suffered in his AFL debut match against Sydney?

Coaches could look to re-call Brynn Teakle for the side's clash with the Cats, with the ruckman pushing for a return after recovering from a broken collarbone. Image: AFL Photos.

"It is always good to have a designated ruckman in the team," Houston said. "But (key forwards) Charlie Dixon and Jeremy Finlayson have been doing a good job, both aerially in the ruck contests and with their follow-up work. Our midfielders know what to expect when we have lost our ruckman we will need to be strong at ground level and at the contest. And they have been doing that.

"It helps to have a ruckman. But the fill-ins in Dixon and Finlayson have been really good as well.

"It also is good to have them closer to goal where they provide so much to our forward line. They have been so good in accepting the role of working together in ruck.

"It would be good to have Brynn back, but we also know the reality - if he is not right, we have full support in Charlie and Jeremy."

Also in contention at selection are experienced forward-midfielder Steven Motlop, wingman Xavier Duursma and North Melbourne recruit Trent Dumont.

Under external watch is young forward Mitch Georgiades who has followed up last season's count of 32.17 in 21 matches with 15.21 in 15 games this year. In the past month, Georgiades has scored 2.4, 2.1, 1.0 and 0.1.

"It is a confidence thing," Houston said. "We have seen Mitch at his best is very sharp around the goals and very accurate. This year, he has even said he is not quite as confident around the goals as he has been. He looks to pass off. It is a confidence thing - and we will fully support him to turn that around."

The match against Geelong begins at 4.05pm on Saturday.