KEY DEFENDER Trent McKenzie has proven his fitness and could squeeze his captain out of Port Adelaide's team to meet Brisbane in Saturday night's qualifying final.
McKenzie hasn't played since suffering a knee injury on August 5 but has trained strongly this week, putting selection pressure on Power skipper Tom Jonas.
Jonas, who will retire at season's end, was summoned as a replacement for McKenzie after a stint in the SANFL but looms as a possible omission from Port's side to meet the Lions at the Gabba on Saturday night.
McKenzie has been favoured as first-choice full-back by coach Ken Hinkley, who will name his team later Thursday.
"He was moving well, I think he's back at 100 per cent," Port utility Dan Houston said of McKenzie after training on Thursday.
"He has ticked off almost every box so he will be putting his hand up for selection.
"It's hard coming back into the team from a stint on the sidelines and coming into a final is probably a little bit harder.
"But Trent is a senior player, he has played a lot of games, so I think he'll be fine stepping up to the level."
The Power have ruled out spearhead Charlie Dixon (knee) from returning against the Lions but ruckman Scott Lycett (knee) and tall forward Todd Marshall (hip) are set for recalls after missing the last home-and-away round.
Port and Brisbane both won 17 games with a greater percentage gifting the Lions home-ground advantage at the Gabba, where they're unbeaten from a dozen games this year.
The Lions were the highest-scoring team during the season and the Power third-highest, but Houston said Port were preparing for a scrap.
"We looked at a few stats compared to (home-and-away) seasons and finals," he said.
"And the contested footy and the intercepts, the ground balls, all that sort of stuff, is a lot higher (in finals) which does indicate that it is a little bit more scrappier which is obviously due to the intensity going up.
"So we're prepared to play that. We know there will be stages where it will open up ... but we are prepared for scrap as well.
"We think we've got some areas that we can pick them apart in but they're a strong side and it will be a four-quarter effort that we will need to get it done."
