PORT Adelaide midfielder Matt White will line up in Saturday's semi-final against Fremantle despite a cracked jaw after surviving vigorous testing at training.
White trained under an injury cloud this week after being subbed out of last Sunday's elimination final against Richmond before half-time with a suspected facial fracture.
Subsequent scans confirmed a crack high on the 27-year-old's jaw.
After testing at training on Wednesday, White flew with the Power to Perth on Thursday and coach Ken Hinkley said he'd play against the Dockers.
"Matty's right now; we did some stuff with him [on Wednesday]. We're pretty comfortable that he's going to get through OK – something would have to go wrong for him not to play," Hinkley said.
"There's always that slight danger that you could get another hit and cause some more damage, but there's always that danger in every game.
"Matty's really confident, and I think that's the key message … he's really confident and ready to play."
White taking his place in the team means Port will likely field an unchanged lineup on Saturday.
Small defender Jarman Impey, who played on Hayden Ballantyne in round 23, has flown to Perth as an emergency.
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon doubts Ballantyne will be fit to play after having surgery on his jaw this week.
Asked whether he thought Lyon was foxing, Hinkley said wasn't his concern.
"You'll have to ask Ross that, I don't really care," he said.
"Last time we played them there was some doubt about some other players and they played; you don't get mixed up in those games.
"You just get ready to play whoever's going to be there."
Port would have to defy history in order to progress to a preliminary final against Hawthorn.
Since the existing AFL finals system was introduced in 2000, only two teams have gained a double chance – as Fremantle did – and exited in straight sets.
Hinkley accepted that history and statistics would not be on the Power's side on Saturday, but once the ball was bounced at Patersons Stadium, stats would become meaningless.
"The numbers say we shouldn't be confident at all, but I said before when we played Freo two weeks ago, we're going in to the finals series to have a crack," he said.
"We're going to give it our absolute best and we think our best is good enough to take on any side in the competition.
"But we know it's got to be on the day.
"The stat that says sides don't make it through, when the game starts on Saturday night, it means not one bit … someone's going to break it and someone's going to change it.
"Let's hope it's Port."
