KEN HINKLEY is taking nothing for granted. His team has a strong record in responding after heavy defeat - and the opportunity comes in a pride-building Showdown hosted by Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

But there needs to be improvement in the key themes that are exposed in Showdowns that demand fierce commitment to the contest - a hot contest in derbies.

"We know some of the parts of our game are consistently pretty good," said Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley at Adelaide Oval on Friday morning.

"Contested ball," added Hinkley, "is a little bit off for us. And I would certainly rather win the contested-ball stat.

"It will not be the (spirit of the) Showdown that changes that. It will be our awareness that will change it - and that is why we focussed on it this week. We need to make sure we are better in those areas of the game."

Port Adelaide has to respond to a 90-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Ballarat on Saturday, the second big loss in the first eight game of Season 2025.

"More often than not we do (respond)," Hinkley said. "We can be better than we were last week. We had a nice solid start last week and then we were badly beaten. Typically, we have been better than that. So I expect the boys will be better than that.

"I am very comfortable this group will turn up ready to play," Hinkley said. "They always have done over my journey. I look forward to nothing more than that (on Saturday)."

Port Adelaide currently holds the Showdown Shield after putting the derby ledger at 28-28 in August.

"Who is going to be in front ... that is what we want to know," Hinkley said. "We look forward to the challenge."

REFIT: Port Adelaide has a new look, as probably expected after the hefty defeat to the fast-rising Western Bulldogs. There are three notable moves among the five changes made at selection.

Dante Visentini replaces the more-experienced Jordon Sweet as lead ruckman.

"Sweet has been down for the past three or four weeks," said Hinkley. "He knows that; he is very honest. Visentini is a great young ruckman who is busting to get a go. He gets his chance. He has been ready for some time ..."

Ryan Burton returns to bolster a defence that has Aliir Aliir, Esava Ratugolea and Miles Bergman prepared for the three-tall attack of the derby rival.

"Ryan is physically better placed than Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (resuming from a back injury)," Hinkley said. "Definitely physically better placed. We are happy with Brandon's progress in coming back but he is still a week or two away from being fully prepared to play AFL football."

Jed McEntee returns to give more defensive pressure to a Port Adelaide attack wanting to hold territory in the forward 50 - and derail rebound strategies from the opposition.

"Jed had a hamstring four weeks ago, so he has been unlucky not to be back or closer to it," Hinkley said. "He is pretty hungry. He is a very reliable team-mate. He turns up and works pretty hard for everyone. We look forward to getting him back out there."

THE PLAN: Port Adelaide's coaching staff has a major task to have it planning for match-ups in this derby that carry multiple options.

"The challenge is to put the game on our terms," Hinkley said. "We have to damage the opposition's weapons (particularly in attack). But the planning is no more than any other week. We do this every week with our 'what if' discussions.

"We rate every opposition pretty high in a competition that is very tight."

RIOLI: Specialist forward Willie Rioli will sit out the derby - by an AFL-imposed suspension and his own need to reflect on the fall-out from his private messages to a Western Bulldogs player after the loss in Ballarat.

His return to the line-up remains unclear.

"We will support Willie and put our arms around Willie," Hinkley said. "He made a mistake. He knows that and he owns that. The consequences are known to everyone, so we move forward knowing we are going to look after Willie."

Hinkley declared his "total support" on the Port Adelaide Football Club's statement overnight seeking stronger support and action for First Nations players who are subjected to abuse, on and off the field.

"I have been in this job for a long period of time and continually hear and see things ... and I could not support our club's position any stronger," Hinkley said.

BOAK: For the first time since he arrived as a teenage draftee in the summer of 2006-7, Travis Boak will play an SANFL game for Port Adelaide after a determined off-field program to overcome a back complaint.

"Trav has had his challenges this year and the way he has handled them in the past month has been incredible," Hinkley said. "It is typical of Travis Boak. His body has hurt him a fair bit over the start of this year.

"This week we decided to manage him back, see him through an SANFL game and see how it feels after we give his body a chance. We are very hopeful - as is Trav - that he has the best chance to progress quite quickly."

Showdown LVII is sold out at the gates at Adelaide Oval and will have live telecasts on both television platforms with Channel Seven and Fox. The SANFL Showdown has a later start than originally scheduled with the first bounce at 4.05pm (rather than 3.10pm).