The first game on Friday for AFL Finals Week 2 is between Geelong Cats and Port Adelaide Power. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:50pm with the game to be played at MCG. The favourite for the match is home team Geelong Cats. View our preview and teams for the game between Geelong Cats and Port Adelaide Power.

Round: Semi-Finals 7:50 PM September 13, 2013
Stadium: MCG
Weather: 18° Shower or two.

Featured Bookmakers:

Geelong Cats $1.25 vs Port Adelaide Power $4.00 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match

Geelong Cats $1.20 vs Port Adelaide Power $4.50 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:

Geelong Cats	1.25	1.23	1.20	1.23	1.25	1.24
Port Adelaide Power	4.00	4.20	4.50	4.20	4.00	3.95

Preview:

It will certainly be a dark Friday the 13th for one of these two teams as Geelong and Port face off in the first of two elimination games this weekend.

Last week, at home, Geelong was expected to handle the consistent Fremantle Dockers and earn themselves a week off.

All was going to plan with the Cats leading by 20 points early in the second quarter before Fremantle kicked the next five goals straight and led at the half-time break.

Hard matches against Sydney and a narrow victory over Brisbane the week before, began to tell on Geelong who were struggling to keep pace with the fresher legs of Fremantle.

Geelong went out in the first week of finals last year and after finishing inside the top four, will be dreading not winning a finals match from their past three attempts.

This is one of the biggest test this champion side has faced and they’ll need to be at their best against Port who have been thriving on a must win mentality for the past month.

Port had the better of their opponents last week – Collingwood up until the third quarter when, for the first time since the opening five minutes, Collingwood regained the lead.

It appeared the tide had turned and with the momentum behind them, Collingwood were set to increase their margin and close out the game but, as Port have shown all year, they have a steely resolve this year and have produced several remarkable efforts throughout the course of the season to claim victory.

And they added Collingwood to the list. Port kick the last five goals straight to win by 14 points.

Head to head, the Cat hold a massive advantage of Port, having won the last nine games straight against them. Port’s last win, their only in the past fourteen encounters between the two clubs, came way back in round 21 2007.

They’ve met twice this year with the Cats winning by 48 and 33 points.

Geelong need to string four quarters together. Should Port get any sniff of a possible win, they’ll hold onto it for dear life.

If you’re not a Geelong supporter, you’ll be barracking for Port but they’ll need more than support to overcome Geelong who will not miss at taking the second bite of the finals cherry.

Teams:

Geelong Cats:
B: Jared Rivers, Tom Lonergan, Josh Hunt
HB: Cam Guthrie, Andrew Mackie, Jimmy Bartel
C: Steve Johnson, Joel Selwood, Allen Christensen
HF: Mitch Duncan, Harry Taylor, Steven Motlop
F: James Podsiadly, Tom Hawkins, Travis Varcoe
FOLL: Nathan Vardy, James Kelly, Mathew Stokes
I/C: Mark Blicavs, Paul Chapman, Joel Corey, Taylor Hunt
EMG: Jordan Murdoch, Jake Stringer, Trent West
IN: Josh Hunt, Taylor Hunt, Tom Hawkins
OUT: Trent West, Corey Enright (suspension), Josh Caddy (ankle)

Port Adelaide Power:
B: Cameron O’Shea, Alipate Carlile, Tom Logan
HB: Matthew Broadbent, Jackson Trengove, Tom Jonas
C: Brad Ebert, Travis Boak, Kane Cornes
HF: Robbie Gray, Justin Westhoff, Dom Cassisi
F: Chad Wingard, Jay Schulz, Angus Monfries
FOLL: Matthew Lobbe, Hamish Hartlett, Oliver Wines
I/C: Andrew Moore, Jasper Pittard, Sam Colquhoun, Aaron Young
EMG: Paul Stewart, Jake Neade, Jack Hombsch
No changes

Port players greedy for success: Hinkley

Port Adelaide players used to be just hungry. Now, they’re getting greedy for another taste of AFL finals success, coach Ken Hinkley says.

Hinkley says his players are far from satisfied as they enter Friday night’s AFL semi-final against Geelong at the MCG.

“They want more,” Hinkley told reporters in Adelaide on Thursday.

“And if people say we have got nothing to lose – we have plenty to lose.

“We want to keep playing. The team want to keep playing. And the boys are really committed to trying to do their best to make sure that happens.”

Hinkley knows few pundits give Port a chance of upsetting Geelong – but he doesn’t care.

“Everyone thinks we’re probably less likely to win again this week, but that doesn’t worry us – that is perception,” he said.

“We know that if our best football is there and we can apply pressure defensively, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

Nor was Hinkley fazed by Geelong’s nine-game winning streak against Port, which includes a pair of comprehensive wins this season.

“We have proven that those things don’t bother us too much – they are history. We have got to go about creating a future,” he said.

Hinkley said Port’s stunning elimination final upset of Collingwood further boosted belief of his charges that they belong in the AFL’s upper echelon.

“Clearly it’s great for your confidence, and confidence is a really important thing at this level – the teams are pretty close,” he said.

“We can certainly go in with some confidence that we have been to the ‘G, we have been to a final and we have played pretty well.”

But the Power coach was mindful of the challenge presented by the Cats, who were beaten at home by Fremantle in a qualifying final last Saturday.

“Yes, they got beaten by a great side last week,” Hinkley said.

“But I absolutely know what they will come out and deliver tomorrow night, and that will be a fierce contest for us. And if we’re not up for the contest, we will find ourselves in trouble really quick.”

The respect is mutual with Geelong still fond of Hinkley, who carved a decorated playing career at the Victorian club and later spent six years there as an assistant coach.

“He is a good friend of the club,” Geelong’s football operations manager Neil Balme told reporters in Geelong on Thursday.

“He understands footy well. He understands people well … the players would really like him for that and he understands what they go through.

“He’s pretty good at dealing with different sorts of people – that is probably his strength.”