WITH his side wearing its traditional 'prison bar' jumper, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said Sunday's 57-point elimination final win over Richmond displayed the famous "brutality" for which the club was renowned.
The Power had the game won before quarter-time thanks to a devastating 17-minute patch of football that Hinkley regarded as the club's best since he started coaching in late 2012.
They piled on seven goals before Richmond was able to hit the scoreboard and followed it up with a six-goal-to-two second term to open a 69-point lead at half time.
Hinkley put the dominant performance down to an insatiable hunger for the football and an intensity that rattled the Tigers early.
Nothing typified that fearless attack at the ball and its carrier like Hamish Hartlett's self-sacrifice in the second term that gifted his team another goal.
Hartlett attacked the loose ball and rode a bone-shaking bump from Steven Morris to gather and handball to Justin Westhoff, who in turn fed Robbie Gray, who found Jay Schulz for a team-lifting goal.
"It was a significant moment ... Hamish's hit on that contest just said to me 'this team was going to win...'" Hinkley said.
"It just showed that brutality, I thought, as far as what we were about on the day and that's what finals football demands of you and we have to do it again next week."
Hinkley said the comprehensive thrashing of the Tigers drew on the club's proud history of ruthless football.
"We played in Port Adelaide tradition - we played with ferocious attack on the ball and speed of ball movement after that," he said.
As well as Hartlett's hit, Hinkley praised the effort shown by one of the league's smallest players in Jake Neade.
Neade laid a superb bump early in the opening term that allowed Ollie Wines to find Schulz, who slammed home the second of seven-straight goals.
The 170cm, 67kg small forward was electric on Sunday, kicking three goals.
"Jake's a little ripper, isn't he? He's just a tiny little fella – I get scared watching him go at some of the contests," Hinkley said.
"He doesn't and that's why he's in our team; he just plays and he plays for keeps.
"He does light us up a little bit, he gets things going, but he just does his role really well."
Port will now venture to Patersons Stadium to take on Fremantle for the second time in three weeks for a place in a preliminary final.
Hinkley said time would tell whether the Power were better positioned to handle the Dockers' pressure.
"Freo are an amazing side and I love the way they play, I love the way they're coached. I know we're going to go over there and give a real good account of ourselves, though," he said.
"We certainly don't go over there with too many fears, we go over there with a bit of freedom to be able to play the game."
