AFL Finals 2023: All the latest Port Adelaide news ahead of qualifying final against Brisbane

Tom Jonas was not picked in the Power’s side to face the Lions on Saturday, but the retiring skipper will now need a miracle to get back for a potential fairytale finish.

Simeon Thomas-Wilson and Matt Turner

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September 8, 2023 - 6:23PM

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Port Adelaide needs to have a deep September run otherwise captain Tom Jonas’ career is over.

While Jonas would have not been selected for Saturday night’s qualifying final against Brisbane with Trent McKenzie back in the side after recovering from his knee injury, the Power captain was waiting in the wings and one injury away from a return to the side.

But now the 32-year-old will need the Power to go deep into September to have a chance of playing another game for Port Adelaide after scans revealed the extent of a calf strain he suffered at training on Thursday.

Jonas suffered the injury in the final minutes of the session, and scans revealed that he would miss two to three weeks.

“He had a calf injury at training yesterday, very much in the last two minutes unfortunately,” Power coach Ken Hinkley said on Friday.

“We are still waiting on scans and more information.

“But it would look like a significant calf injury which puts Tom right behind the eightball in terms of making an impact in this finals series.”

Tom Jonas will miss the next two weeks at least with a calf injury. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The Power skipper announced in August that he would retire at the end of the season.

After spending two months out of the side and in the SANFL, Jonas played the last four home and away games for the Power.

He did concede that he thought the Round 24 win at Adelaide Oval could be the last game of his career after the final siren with McKenzie due to return to the side.

Forget underdog tag – Ken confident Port can defy history

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley says his side “doesn’t feel like an underdog” ahead of its daunting qualifying final against Brisbane at the Gabba.

The Lions have not lost a game at their home ground this season, meaning many aren’t giving the Power all that much of a hope for Saturday night’s clash.

Hinkley said his side had not been given much of a chance before the season, only to finish in the top four for the third time in the last four years.

But he said his side didn’t need to draw on this for motivation to try and take down the Lions.

“The results are pretty obvious, whether they are that much of a better team at the Gabba I don’t know,” he said on Friday.

“We have also played seven games on the road that we have won.

“Those things are not that much of an influence once the game starts, it is about what team comes out with composure and calmness to get the job done.

“For us we don’t feel like an underdog, we qualified equal second and won 17 games for the year.

“That is a mighty effort by any team and we go up there with confidence that our best can challenge every team in this competition.”

Ken Hinkley says his side doesn’t feel like an underdog. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

The Power has brought back ruckman Scott Lycett, key forward Todd Marshall and key defender Trent McKenzie for the qualifying final.

McKenzie comes in for captain Tom Jonas, who will soon find out the extent of a calf injury he suffered in the final minutes of training on Thursday.

Jonas will retire at the end of the season and Hinkley said the injury was a “significant” one.

“Trent is a significant in given Tom wasn’t going to play, so getting Trent back is really important,” he said.

“He had a calf injury at training yesterday, very much in the last two minutes unfortunately.

“We are still waiting on scans and more information.

“But it would look like a significant calf injury which puts Tom right behind the eightball in terms of making an impact in this finals series.”

The Power will have to defy history if it is to succeed in September this year.

Every flag winner this century has ranked in the top six at the end of the minor round for fewest points conceded.

The Power was 12th in the competition in that statistic this season, coughing up 1906 points at an average of 82.9 per game, the most of the finalists.

Not since North Melbourne in 1999 has a premier been without one of the six stingiest defences in the league across the home-and-away season.

Hinkley said the Power did need to lift its defence.

Jason Horne-Francis at Adelaide Airport on Friday morning. Picture: Dean Martin

Willie Rioli and the Power flew out for Brisbane ahead of Saturday night’s clash. Picture: Dean Martin

“It is fair and reasonable over the course of the season,” he said.

“A lot of people want to look at the last month and say that we are doing really well, every team has patches in their season.

“Ultimately for us, we are a high scoring team who defend pretty honestly and play front half footy.

“But when the ball does get through it can go through the other way.

“We know that if we defend poorly we won’t win.”

Hinkley also said the “theme” of blockbuster movie Oppenheimer during finals was not a massive one at Alberton this year.

The film is centred on the development of the atomic bomb but the Power has been tapping into the teamwork involved in creating something significant after years of hard work.

“It is not a significant part,” Hinkley said.

“The key part about that is and I think Ollie (Wines) explained it quite well how a lot of people came together over a long period of time to work really hard on one single thing.

“To get an outcome that they were trying to get. And for us we have been working on this for a long time, four or five years. I’m not just talking this year I’m talking about the way we have had to build up our team and work on our football over a four or five year period.

“That is what we have talked around, I haven’t seen the movie myself so that hasn’t been a bigger theme.”