STUART Dew last month reflected on how Port Adelaide opened the 21st century winning young hearts to build a new supporter base, by stringing together seven consecutive Showdown triumphs at Football Park.

Almost two decades later, a qualifying final win at Adelaide Oval is just as powerful. Perhaps more so when it extends a local agenda to a national platform.

And it is not just the hearts of a new generation of football fans that are won over by conquering a noted AFL powerhouse such as Geelong. There are also the hearts of older generations that are mended.

Port Adelaide has won its first AFL final since 2014 - and in a way that is true to every image that won a legion a fans in the previous century. "Tough, hard, brutal ... ruthless," said Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley of the underlying tone to the 16-point win against Geelong on Thursday night that delivered a massive correction on the 60-point loss to Geelong in round 12.

Port Adelaide advances to its first AFL preliminary final since 2014 - and its first at home since 2007. Its first AFL preliminary final at Adelaide Oval, as well.

Season 2020 was to have invoked pride in Port Adelaide football by reflecting on the unrivalled achievements across the club's 150 years. But the real celebration is in admiring the work of today's Port Adelaide senior footballers - and finding real hope for what is to come in the future.

That slogan penned in Port Adelaide's centenary season in 1970 - "Proud of the past, Confident of the future" - is back in vogue. The 2020 version - "Proud Past, Bold Future" - has credibility. There is now power to win hearts.

If you don't have their hearts, you're not getting their minds. He's got them.

Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon on Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley

In the past decade, Port Adelaide has put back together its soul to be "One Club". It has returned to Adelaide Oval with the warning, "Never Tear Us Apart". It made it known from the start of the on-field revival in 2013 that it would "Never, ever give up." And now, a band of Port Adelaide players is living up to Ken Hinkley's bold declaration that his team was going beyond just chasing a top-eight finals berth - after misses in 2018 and 2019 - to "wanting to win the premiership ... we're coming."

There are many hearts to be swayed and won on the back of on-field success built on uncompromising football - and many emotions to stir in a supporter base that has been to hell and back.

There are so many hearts on the mend after the "true believers" were forced to endure so much pain while watching their club being torn apart by political agendas during the reshape of South Australian football from 2010-2014. The healing is more significant when it comes with a finals win against Geelong, the club that has tormented Port Adelaide the most during the past 13 years.

There have been many significant on-field victories in the past decade - the first AFL game at the "old" Adelaide Oval in 2011, the last Showdown at Football Park in 2013, the elimination final against Collingwood at the MCG in 2013, the first Showdown and first AFL final at Adelaide Oval in 2014, the double triumphs against AFL premier Hawthorn in 2015 ...

Defying a star-studded Geelong line-up in a demanding qualifying final - while taking heavy hits to players - defines this 2020 version of Port Adelaide. It has a stronger heartbeat ... and more hearts of new believers beating with it.

Every season must begin with new hope. Ken Hinkley started this challenging, pandemic-twisted year with grand ambition of winning the premiership in Port Adelaide's 150th anniversary year. Living up to that dream - and the club mantra of existing to win premierships - creates powerful pride for a club and its community. There is the other part of the Port Adelaide mantra: "We exist to win premierships - and to make our community proud."

The scenes at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night reaffirm what Port Adelaide stands for - again.

There has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes over the past couple for years. We have worked as a group off the field and that's just coming together now.

Port Adelaide midfielder-forward Brad Ebert

QUALIFYING FINAL

Port Adelaide 9.4 (58) d Geelong 5.12 (42)

"PAIN is temporary, glory is forever."

Todd Marshall, right shoulder.

Xavier Duursma, concussion.

Darcy Byrne-Jones, crunched again and again but never knocked down. The newly dressed All-Australian half-back certainly refused to bow to football royalty, as noted with the head-to-head road block he put on Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield in the second term in a tag team holding-the-ball play with Robbie Gray.

Tom Rockliff, sore head. It is part of the reward - short-term pain, long-term glory - for winning the ball the hard way in midfield battles where Port Adelaide could not be second-best.

Tom Clurey, corked upper leg. The demand for ice in the Port Adelaide changerooms in the post-match would have been heavy. The bumps and bruises will pass. The honour stays forever.

"We don't need heroes," said Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley. "We just need people who do their jobs when it is their turn."

Heroes they are. Marshall for returning from the start of the second term, after slamming his right shoulder into the Adelaide Oval turf after the key forward tumbled in a marking contest early in the first quarter.

He just had to hang in for us ... he needed some help and support to get through the game, but to stay out there, then get that clutch shot from 45 metres and be able to finish it ...

He was still in a fair bit of pain. I was so proud of Todd and I'm sure a lot of people will be proud of Todd tonight.

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley on forward Todd Marshall

Duursma for not sidestepping but going headstrong into a marking contest against Geelong ruckman Mark Blicavs early in the third term at the Oval's southern goal. He refused to be carried off and commands the respect of his team-mates - and many others. The pain is temporary. The glory lives on.

He's as hard as nails. He never stops jumping for the ball in the contest. He's so courageous.

Port Adelaide midfielder-forward Brad Ebert on concussed wingman Xavier Duursma

And those who stood up when it was their turn while the pressure rose in this keenly contested final.

Forward Steven Motlop justified Hinkley's faith with his thee opportunistic goals - and, at least partially, eased Hinkley's pain whenever he reflects on the 2013 semi-final at the MCG where Motlop scored two goals for Geelong to sink Port Adelaide.

Steven Motlop is the most dangerous man on the ground. He hasn't had the most touches, but he's been lively and clean. 

Brownlow Medallist and Geelong premiership player Jimmy Bartel

The three pistons in the midfield - vice-captain Ollie Wines, former captain Travis Boak and first-time finalist Tom Rockliff - made sure the agenda was not hijacked by their Geelong rivals, as it was in round 12. This Port Adelaide midfield trio topped the possession count with 24, 22 and 22 respectively.

And defender Hamish Hartlett stood out as the man who played the decisive role when the result was being decided in the third term. His four marks - and six disposals - during this quarter cut every exit route for the Geelong defence while Port Adelaide was enforcing its territory game by locking the ball in its forward half.

While Hartlett intercepted, Port Adelaide built a critical 21-point lead during the third term and Geelong went without a score for the first 20 minutes of the quarter.

The much-watched duel between Coleman Medal winner Tom Hawkins as the spearhead of the Geelong attack and Charlie Dixon, the runner-up in the AFL leading goalkicker race, was a tale of two very different key forwards.

Dixon endured two-on-one contests - and repeatedly gave his team-mates, in particular Brad Ebert and Motlop, the chances to score from the ensuing scramble at ground level.

Hawkins was forced to go far and wide for his opportunities that had to be earned against the close attention of Port Adelaide full back Trent McKenzie. Hinkley says McKenzie earned the challenge of marking Hawkins - ahead of Tom Clurey, who endured the task in round 12 - because this has been his role all season, dealing with the opposition's goalfront forward. His work against Collingwood giant Mason Cox in the home-and-away season closer proved his capability against bigger, taller forwards.

Dixon finished with one goal; Hawkins kicked five behinds and put his first set shot across the northern goal to not register a score. Dixon worked to a Port Adelaide midfield that boldly took on the corridor. Hawkins was forced wide by a Port Adelaide midfield and defence that took the lesson from the round 12 battle in which Hawkins finished with six goals.

Port Adelaide - to dispel the image of being heavily reliant on Dixon - had six goalscorers: Motlop (3), Ebert (2), Dixon, Ladhams, Marshall and Rozee.

"We look dangerous in different ways," said Hinkley of Port Adelaide's goalscoring power. "We definitely have different options."  

QUOTES OF THE GAME

"Throughout the season, we haven't really been concerned about silencing doubters. We know how we play. We can keep doing it and we will."

Port Adelaide midfielder-forward Brad Ebert

"Finals always throw up left-field impact players. Steven Motlop was terrific. He slipped forward at the perfect times all night and worked his tail off."

North Melbourne premiership defender David King

"I can't wait to get my Trent McKenzie badge."

Former Port Adelaide player Tom Logan.

TAKE IT TO THE BANK

(five things learned during the pre-finals bye)

1) STEPPING UP. Port Adelaide's 2004 AFL premiership line-up is well noted for developing a large crew of assistant coaches and senior football-department staffers. Who will be the first to be charged with a senior coaching role? Premiership ruckman-forward Brendon Lade, who has advanced his apprenticeship from Port Adelaide to Richmond and now St Kilda, is getting closer with St Kilda senior coach Brett Ratten "giving me a lot more responsibility this year - and I've seen a lot of things I would not have seen as an assistant coach. There is so much more a senior coach has to do ... including putting out fires here and there; employing people, sacking people; it is a lot of everything. So that's opened my eyes to what is needed to be a senior coach."

2) KEEP WAITING.Will it be 36, 38 or 40 players on AFL lists next season? Will there be rookies? What limit will there be to the salary cap? And when will all these questions be answered? AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan says the "meeting of the minds" between the league executives and the AFL Players' Association union leaders is working to no deadline. "Often," McLachlan said, "things are more complicated than you think they will be. The last inches (in the negotiations) always are as big a gap as the previous seven feet. I don't mind smaller lists ..."

3) TO ERR IS HUMAN. Olympian and Sheffield Shield cricketer Ric Charlesworth always noted there are erasers on the end of pencils because humans make mistakes. Former Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak said it best on how judgment should be passed on those AFL players - in particular former Port Adelaide defender Jack Watts, free agent Brad Crouch, retired Melbourne journeyman Harley Bennell and Fremantle forward Jesse Hogan - who made the front pages rather than the sports section of newspapers during the past week. Boak said: "I guess as humans we make mistakes, and it's not on one event in life that you judge people."

4) TOSH TIME. In a year that has seemed to been rushed but taken so long to unfold - opening day was March 19- the pre-finals bye always ran the risk of drawing criticism. It also stoked some old English with AFL 360-SEN host Gerard Whateley describing the league's claim that the bye "enhances the quality of the finals" as "tosh". Introduced in 2016 - in reaction to Fremantle coach Ross Lyon and North Melbourne counterpart Brad Scott "resting" many, many players from dead-rubber home-and-away closers - the pre-finals bye does seem to have been a bonus this year for the AFL and its top-eight finalists, in particular West Coast and Collingwood, working through COVID protocols. Should it remain .. or should the AFL inherit another American football concept with the bye before the grand final as the NFL has before it's Super Bowl?

5) SOUTHERN BITE. Tasmanian export to Carlton and now Brisbane, Mitch Robinson, never has appeared a cautious footballer. His reaction to his island state gaining a National Basketball League team to be known as the Tasmania Jack Jumpers might just explain his so-called kamikaze football traits. On social media platform Twitter, Robinson revealed: "True story, I jumped off my roof as a kid and my hands landed in a Jack Jumpers nest. Worst pain I've experienced in my life, so I did it again ... off the other side of the house. Vicious." For those asking, a jack jumper is a venomous ant that is native to Australia and has the ability to jump as far as eight centimetres.

NEXT

Preliminary final

Adelaide Oval

 

A WEEK off - and the wait for the winner of the semi-final that will decide which of 2019 AFL premier Richmond, St Kilda or the Western Bulldogs will stand in the way of Port Adelaide's first AFL grand final appearance since 2007.

From these prospects, Port Adelaide has a 2-1 count this season - losing to St Kilda at Adelaide Oval in round 8 with a reminder of how critical it is to be strong and clean at the contest; beating the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval in round 10 and standing tall against the hardened Richmond unit in round 11 at Adelaide Oval in the match of the home-and-away season.

The fall-out from the qualifying final carries a medical report on key forward Todd Marshall's right shoulder - an injury that puts veteran Justin Westhoff and first-year forward Mitch Georgiades on the selection whiteboard for the preliminary final. Xavier Duursma gains from the week off to clear away any concerns with concussion.

It's a bizarre statistic. Since 2000, every four years, the team that has been on top of the ladder after round one has actually won the flag. Essendon (2000), Port Adelaide (2004), Hawthorn (2008), Sydney (2012) and the Western Bulldogs (2016). Amazingly, it is alive again with Port Adelaide.

Australian Football Hall of Famer, Terry Wallace

ANNIVERSARY NOTE

October 3, 1936

Centenary premiership

Port Adelaide 13.19 (97) d Sturt 14.10 (94)

Adelaide Oval

SOUTH Australia celebrated the centenary of proclamation as a colonial province on December 28, 1836 - and in 1936 Port Adelaide started to make a habit of winning anniversary trophies (continuing with 1951 with the jubilee of Australian federation; 1958 with the centenary of Australian football and 1977 with the centenary of the SANFL).

In March 1936, the SANFL vice-president, Adelaide businessman and former Norwood player James Hay Gosse offered a trophy to be presented alongside the shield traditionally handed with a flag to the league premiership team.

Claiming this anniversary title, the so-called "Centenary premiership", demanded one of the strongest second-half fightbacks in Port Adelaide's long list of grand final heroics - and a touch of luck created by a lippy Port Adelaide defender.

As minor premier, Port Adelaide stumbled in the second semi-final, losing to second-ranked Sturt by 34 points on the back of poor goalkicking (13.25) and an eight-goal burst by Sturt in the second term. The long path to the grand final was completed with a 37-point win against North Adelaide in the preliminary final.

The grand final seemed destined to repeat the semi-final after Sturt entered the half-time break leading by 28 points, 11.6 to 6.8 and Port Adelaide was described as "hopelessly out of the race ... (after) in almost every part of the field and general tactics Port Adelaide had been outplayed by faster, cleverer work".

Sturt had 6.2 on the old Adelaide Oval scoreboard before Port Adelaide had its first goal.

At three quarter-time, Port Adelaide - after scoring 4.8 to 1.2 - was within four points of the lead, 10.16 (76) to 12.8 (80) and the game dramatically tightened while turning into a shoot-out between key forwards: James Prideaux (Port Adelaide's record-breaking goalkicker with a then-club record 95 in 1935) and Albert Hollingworth against Sturt legend  P.T. "Bo" Morton.

The scoring chart in the last quarter read -

Prideaux, goal - Port Adelaide leads for first time, 82-80 

Alf Longmore, behind - Sturt trails 81-82

Ned Hender, goal - Port Adelaide leads 88-81

Morton, goal - Sturt trails 87-88

Hollingworth, goal - Port Adelaide leads 95-87

Morton, behind - Sturt trails 88-95

Morton, goal - Sturt trails 94-95

Rushed behind, Port Adelaide leads 96-94

Prideaux, behind - Port Adelaide leads 97-94

Morton marked 30 metres from goal in the last minute. Port Adelaide back pocket Bobby Meers was vocal while standing the mark with folklore stating he yelled, "Bo, there is something hanging out of your shorts!" Morton's kick went out of bounds, leaving the scoreboard showing a three-point lead to Port Adelaide.

On the last play, Port Adelaide ruckman "Bull" Reval marked "brilliantly in the region of centre half-back, and the game was done".

"Port Adelaide," The Advertiser reported, "(were) the winners by three points ... the crowd surged onto the playing arena and delightedly mobbed the players of the winning team. It was Port Adelaide's first premiership for eight years."