As the GIANTS get set to head south and take on the Power at Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon, we’ve been keeping a close eye on all the news coming out of Alberton Oval.
Port Adelaide's midfield brigade say they’re desperate to turn the tables on the GIANTS and keep the Power's flickering finals hopes alive.
The GIANTS smashed the Power by 86 points in round four in Canberra in a stunning performance.
Onballer Robbie Gray spoke to the media on Monday ahead of his 150th game for the Power.
“I assume all the boys will want to make amends for last time,” Gray told reporters in Adelaide on Monday.
“It was obviously a really disappointing loss and we felt as a midfield area we let the team down.
“We know it's going to be a really big job and a tough task, but we're looking forward to it.”
The Power stayed within touch of the top eight with a victory over North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium last Saturday, which was their eighth win of the season.
“That was our most even performance in three important areas of the game – offence, defence and stoppage work,” Gray said.
“That was the first time we've had those three areas all really click.
“We'll be focusing on that happening again this week and hopefully we can do it.”
It was the Power's first win against a top eight team this season and leaves them two wins behind the eighth-placed Kangaroos with six games remaining.
“It was pleasing to get that done, but we can't afford to look too far ahead,” Gray said.
“We've been pretty inconsistent this year, so all our focus will be going into GWS this week so we'll be preparing as best we can for that.
“We'll find out Sunday how far we've come, but we've felt like the last four or five weeks we've played some better footy at times and on the weekend we were able to put it together for longer periods of the game.”
This week AFL.com.au reporter Ben Guthrie took a look at the influence of the Power’s Justin Westhoff on the club’s fortunes since 2014, determining that the mobile forward could have a huge say in determining whether Port Adelaide pinches a finals spot at the end of the season.
Statistics reveal Westhoff has been crucial to the Power's win-loss ratio since 2014, with the forward's form closely resembling the Port's hot and cold efforts throughout 2016.
In the Power's wins by more than 18 points, Westhoff's scoring tally rises considerably with the Port forward accounting for an average of 15.8 Player Ratings points across 27 games.
Westhoff has averaged just 8.1 Player Ratings points in the 12 games Port has lost by more than 18 points.
Shutting down Westhoff could prove a key to the GIANTS’ fortunes in the city of churches this weekend.
In injury news, Power vice-captain Brad Ebert looks likely to return against the GIANTS after he missed the win over the Kangaroos with a bruised lung.
However, the Power ruled forward Charlie Dixon out of Sunday’s clash on Tuesday with an ankle injury he sustained in the win over the Kangaroos.
Port Adelaide’s High Performance Manager Darren Burgess said scans showed an injury to the upper part of the ankle.
“Because of the nature of the injury it’s difficult to say exactly when he’ll be back but we’ll rehabilitate him as quickly as possible without risking any further damage,” Burgess said.
The GIANTS take on Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, July 24 and 4.40pm (EST).
