Port and Richmond keep faith for AFL final

Port Adelaide and Richmond have kept the faith in winning line-ups, naming unchanged sides for Friday night’s AFL preliminary final.

The Power cleared winger Xavier Duursma (concussion) and Todd Marshall (shoulder) from injuries suffered in their qualifying win against Geelong a fortnight ago.

And the Tigers opted for the same team which crushed St Kilda in a semi-final last weekend after debating whether to recall back-up ruck Mabior Chol.

The Power creamed the Tigers at centre bounces in their round 11 meeting, winning centre clearances 20 to five in a 21-point victory.

But Tigers coach Damien Hardwick will again deploy a makeshift second ruck to support Toby Nankervis against Port’s tap tandem of Scott Lycett and Peter Ladhams.

Chol is among Richmond’s emergencies with Oleg Markov, Josh Caddy and Jake Aarts.

The Power named stalwart Justin Westhoff, Riley Bonner, Boyd Woodcock and Jarrod Lienert as their emergencies.

Port coach Ken Hinkley said Duursma and Marshall have proved their fitness while dismissing concerns over the form of the latter.

The tall forward has kicked just two goals from his past five games but Hinkley said his worth shouldn’t measured by statistics.

“Output from numbers only is one thing,” Hinkley told reporters on Thursday.

“You have got to value the whole thing and for us we value what Todd brings amazingly for our team.

“There’s so many times where you just need to be in the right spot that helps other people.

“And that is what you don’t see and the stats don’t purely tell you, they don’t tell you exactly what is going on in the game style that we’re trying to achieve.

“Todd is an incredibly important part of that game style … a really fast thinking footballer and I think that goes unnoticed sometimes.”

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