PORT Adelaide will bring a finals brand of football to the big stage, with coach Ken Hinkley confident his team has learned from past failures after securing a home qualifying final against Geelong for the third time in five years.

The Power finished a game clear in second with a 16-7 record after a home-and-away season that ended with eight wins from their last nine games, with Hinkley proud of his team's professional finish with a 20-point win against Fremantle on Sunday.

DOCKERS v POWER Full match coverage and stats

Port has beaten the Cats at Adelaide Oval in both of the qualifying finals the teams have played since 2020, but lost the following week, before last year's straight sets exit with defeats against Brisbane and Greater Western Sydney.

Hinkley said the key to going further in 2024 would be to produce the contested, high-pressure game that eventually undid Fremantle at Optus Stadium, ending the desperate Dockers' year.

"I think we're a bit different as a team. I think we're a pretty reliable team … playing that brand of football will give us a great chance," Hinkley said on Sunday night.

"We're going to work really hard to try and produce that brand of football in the next month. I can't pretend to tell them (the players) that last year didn't happen, or the years before it didn't happen.

>> Win a $70K Toyota in AFLW Fantasy! Sign up NOW

"But I think that's preparing us really well and giving us a great opportunity, and I think that's what it's about, persistence and willingness to keep turning up.

"We're a game clear in second, so we didn't just stumble there. We found our way there and we've been a pretty honest footy club for a long time."

The Power secured Sunday night's win in their first match since star defender Dan Houston was suspended for the rest of the season, with Hinkley impressed by the way his backline handled the challenge.

The team also lost half-back/wingman Kane Farrell to a hamstring injury before half-time, with mid-season recruit Logan Evans particularly influential with 10 rebound 50s, alongside more experienced pair Ryan Burton and Miles Bergman.

"We were able to do what I call 'juggle the books' and mix and match a little bit, and still come away with the same style of football," Hinkley said.

"If he (Evans) is not the Rising Star this week, I'm a bad judge. I'm a really bad judge, because that was as good an 18-year-old game as you could probably hope to play in a high-pressure game.

"If the AFL is listening, I'm pumping for him because I think he deserves that. He's had an outstanding first year."

Hinkley knew what was on the line for Fremantle after St Kilda beat Carlton minutes before Sunday's game at Optus Stadium started, but the players had a focus to "ignore what else is going on around the competition" before running out.  

"We wanted to play it like it was the first round," Hinkley said.

"Clearly that was a great test for us, with Fremantle on their home ground, with everything that they needed to play for and where we were positioned ourselves.

"It was pretty mature to turn up and take care of business the way we've been able to for the last seven or eight weeks. I'm really proud of the boys tonight."

A disappointed Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said the season had felt like a "massive opportunity lost" after failing to execute in key moments and sliding to 10th with four straight losses.

The inability to handle Port Adelaide's pressure in the final quarter had summed up their entire year, which ended with a 3-8 record against teams now playing finals.

"Basic execution in terms of executing with ball in hand didn't stand up against the best sides and we didn't execute under the pressure of the game well enough, tonight and all year," the coach said.

"There's a couple of learning opportunities there that will burn in pre-season and shine a light on how we're going to get better.

"You can't fault [the players'] effort. They've played three top four sides the last three weeks, and a bit of me thinks we should have won all of them.

"But we didn't, because we couldn't execute well enough. We didn't stand up in big moments, and we didn't execute those moments well enough."

Longmuir said the Dockers' needed to address costly lapses in discipline and directing their intensity the right way as part of a crucial 2025 pre-season.

"We'll go through our review process and make sure players are really clear on where they see their games and where they can improve in those areas to help us get better," he said.

"But we've got to use this disappointment now to be able to frame up how we approach the off-season, how we approach next pre-season, and how we embrace the grind of getting better.

"Our players will be up for that. They've been up for everything."