Port Adelaide ruckman/forward Brendon Lade has reassured Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse that the Power does respect the Magpies.

“Obviously we’ve got great respect for Collingwood,” Lade said before training on Wednesday. “They had the week off last week. They earned that right after winning the second qualifying final and going straight through to the prelim.

“We’re looking forward to going over and having a good competitive game against them.”

Lade was responding to Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse’s comments earlier on Wednesday that Port coach Mark Williams had shown ‘a lack of respect’ for the Magpies on Monday.

Williams had said: “I suppose if you were looking for someone to play, you’d be looking for Collingwood, and it’s all turned out perfectly for us. There’s no other team we would rather play this week.”

Lade said the team that won the midfield would probably win Saturday’s second preliminary final at the MCG.

And on the ‘importance of stopping’ Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley, Lade said: “It’s always important to stop him, and they’ve also got a lot of other players who need stopping, as well – Scott Burns, (Paul) Licuria, (Shane) Woewodin – these type of players. If we can stop the majority of them, hopefully it goes a long way for us winning the game.

“I think the stats showed today that Paul Licuria has had more possessions than any player at Port Adelaide. He seems to get under everyone’s guard.”

Asked whether Buckley would be ‘a bigger challenge’ for Port tagger Stuart Cochrane than Essendon skipper James Hird was in last Saturday night’s first semi-final, Lade said: “He will be for whoever gets him, whether it be Cochrane or Josh Carr or myself. Anyone could play on him, I suppose. Who knows who’s going to play on him?”

Lade said it would be ‘excellent’ if Port regained captain/ruckman Matthew Primus, who has missed the past six matches with what the Power says is a knee tendon problem and some media outlets describe as a hamstring injury.

“Matty’s a great leader at the club and has been over his three years as captain,” Lade said. “We’re really looking forward to him training tonight and hopefully playing on the weekend.”

Could Port play all three ruckmen – Primus, Dean Brogan and Lade himself?

“I think we can,” Lade said. “It’d be great. I don’t know what ‘Chocco’ (Williams) is thinking. We’ve played three talls before and won, and we could do it again.”

Could Primus be a pinch-hitter off the bench?

“He could be,” Lade said. “He could start on the ground, too. He’s just one of those players who doesn’t lose much fitness when he does miss some games. Whether it be up forward, in the middle or around the ground, he’s a valuable asset to our team and hopefully he’ll play this week.”

Lade, 27 and an imposing 199 centimetres and 105 kilograms, will play his 100th AFL match on Saturday after being cleared by the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night of an unduly rough play charge against Hird in the first quarter of last Saturday night’s semi-final.

“It was good news for me,” he said. “I’m just happy to be off and playing this week.

“I didn’t play in last year’s preliminary final so obviously it was a little bit nerve-wracking, but it was out of my hands once we entered the room. I was happy with the tribunal’s decision.”

Lade’s personal milestone would have arrived much earlier if he had not had to miss most of the 2000 and 2001 seasons after breaking his right leg twice.

“It’s been a long journey to get to the 100 games and I’m just really looking forward to this week and having a great game against Collingwood,” he said.

“It (playing 100 games) was a big goal of mine and I was breezing along in the early years and hit a couple of road blocks, and got over them and I’m on my way now to hopefully playing a lot more over 100.

“I’ve got great team-mates around me. They’re always very supportive of me and I knew if I got back playing well, the team would get me the rest of the way.”

Lade said his right leg had ‘never been a big issue, never been psychological’ since his return.

“It’s probably just been confidence rather than anything else, getting used to jumping back into people again,” he said. “With the rod put straight down the middle of the bone, it’s not going to break again, so that sort of instils a bit more confidence in me.

“The club showed a lot of faith in me. I was lucky enough to get a contract a couple of years ago after not playing much footy at all, and I suppose with the team playing so well, I’m just happy to be fitting in where I can in the team. I suppose if I can do my part, that goes a long way for the team winning.”