Football can be ever so cruel sometimes, and don’t Port Adelaide know it.

The Power were two games clear on top of the AFL table following a barnstorming 10-1 start to the year.

A mid-season stumble of six losses in eight games cost the Power a top-two berth, and a horror 30-minute patch against Fremantle on Saturday robbed Port Adelaide of the chance to finish fourth.

The Power led Fremantle by 12 points early in the third quarter, but conceded the next nine goals on the way to a 16.9 (105) to 14.13 (97) loss that consigned them to fifth spot.

An hour after the heartbreaking defeat, Port Adelaide were dealt another blow – discovering they will face red-hot Richmond in Sunday’s elimination final at Adelaide Oval.

The Tigers shape as the ultimate dark horse of the finals after stringing together nine straight wins to sneak into eighth spot.

Port Adelaide were the surprise packet of last year’s finals series after beating Collingwood in an away elimination final before pushing Geelong all the way in a semi-final at the MCG.

But they face a major fight to even match that run this year, with Port Adelaide’s winless run against Richmond stretching back to 2011.

Under the current finals format, no team has won the flag from outside the top four.

But Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says his team will try its best to buck that trend, claiming his players learned valuable lessons from Saturday’s loss to Fremantle in Perth.

“We understand that we are not far away,” Hinkley said.

“As we know now, she’s cut throat. It’s one mistake and you’re gone; season over.

“We’ve got to play like that and hopefully we can go like that for four weeks.

“We’ve beaten Freo once, we’ve beaten Hawthorn once, we’ve beaten Geelong once.

“Sydney beat us by four points and 26 points. That’s the top four.

“I know we can compete, but it means you have to play well all the time.

“I would say right now we are playing as good a footy as we have played all year.”