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Final four teams impossible to split

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley’s approach to Friday night’s preliminary final against Richmond has been as clear as it is honest.

Richmond’s premiership forwards Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch training at Adelaide Oval on Thursday ahead of the preliminary final against Port Adelaide Picture: Getty Images
Richmond’s premiership forwards Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch training at Adelaide Oval on Thursday ahead of the preliminary final against Port Adelaide Picture: Getty Images

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley’s approach to Friday night’s preliminary final against Richmond has been as clear as it is honest.

There has been no downplaying what is at stake or mind games to avoid the nerves that come with the occasion.

“It would be unusual if we weren’t a little anxious about what is going on and what the opportunity is there in front of us,” he said.

“The boys have been – the whole team and the club – really composed about the opportunity that is in front of us.

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“We just want to go out there and play with some freedom and some fun, (the way) we have played all year.

“It’s exciting. Everyone wants to be around this time of year. You get the best four teams going at it. It is lineball. It is a prelim final. There are no favourites. No underdogs.”

The challenges of the season have been as well covered as the tattoos adorning the skin of Richmond star Dustin Martin.

This prompted debate as to whether the premiership this season would come with an asterisk.

Try telling that to Port Adelaide fans chasing their first flag since 2004. Or to Hinkley, whose tenure was at risk at the start of the season.

Richmond, should they claim a third premiership in four seasons, would join Brisbane, Geelong and Hawthorn with claims to being regarded as the best side of this century.

The Lions, meanwhile, were lost in the wilderness after crowning themselves kings of the football jungle between 2001 to 2003. An opportunity to play in a once-in-a-lifetime grand final on home soil is a victory away.

As for Geelong, which have made preliminary finals in four of the past five seasons, this year presents another opportunity.

It would give coach Chris Scott a second premiership and surely remove any lingering queries about a tenure where the Cats have been remarkably successful in all bar the biggest games since their 2011 flag.

Gary Ablett, one of the finest players the AFL has seen, will play his last match either on Saturday against Brisbane or a week later in the decider.

Patrick Dangerfield is indisputably a champion yet he is among those desperate to play in a grand final, let alone achieve football’s ultimate measure of success over the next fortnight.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan made his views clear at the launch of the finals series in Brisbane earlier this month when declaring the 2020 premier could be considered one of the great sides for overcoming adversity.

The approach Hinkley has adopted for this weekend will have similarities to those of opposing coach Damien Hardwick on Friday night and Chris Fagan and Chris Scott at the Gabba on Saturday.

“Nerves is probably not the word. We have planned really well as coaches and we’re ready,” he said.

“You know the opposition (and) you know what their strengths are and they know what our strengths are, I’m sure. And it’s just a real battle out there. You are going to get parts right. You’re going to get parts wrong.

“You hope, by the end, you have done enough of those things right to put you in front. Typically it’s going to be a small margin.”

Bookmakers are in agreement with Hinkley.

Less than one point separates premiership favourites Brisbane ($3.40) from Geelong ($4.25) on the TAB.

Port Adelaide, which claimed the minor premiership after holding top spot throughout 2020, are slight favourites in their sudden-death clash against the Tigers, while the Lions are also given a small edge over Geelong.

The Power defeated Richmond by 21 points in their only clash this season in Adelaide in August, but Trent Cotchin, Dion Prestia and Shane Edwards were among the Tigers missing that night.

“We’re going to do our best to do the things that we have done well all season and that has been in the ability to win the contest, get the ball in our half,” Hinkley said.

“We know about their game. It’s built off some turnover, it’s built off some speed, it’s built off some real class and some power forwards.”

Geelong had the better of Brisbane in a match played at the SCG in the infancy of the great relocation of Victorian-based clubs out of Melbourne.

Both teams are unbeaten at the Gabba this season. Perfection ends for one side on Saturday night, with the victor a step closer to the AFL’s version of the Holy Grail.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/final-four-teams-nearly-impossible-to-split/news-story/834e18b3e1887d5207bb9d89ebff8ab9