PORT Adelaide has received a timely boost with Scott Lycett deemed fit to take on the Western Bulldogs in Friday night's massive top-four clash.
Lycett was substituted out of the Power's 95-point win over Carlton with a jarred knee, but coach Ken Hinkley confirmed the ruckman had pulled up well enough to face the Bulldogs, though small forward Orazio Fantasia will miss with hamstring tightness.
Hinkley planned to stick with his two-ruckman set-up of Lycett and Peter Ladhams, with Stefan Martin in the mix to return for the Bulldogs to work alongside Tim English.
Trent McKenzie returns from hamstring tightness with Tom Clurey dropped while Steven Motlop will replace Fantasia, who Hinkley was confident would just miss a week, with the Power unwilling to risk the small forward ahead of the finals.
The stakes couldn't be much higher at Marvel Stadium on Friday night, with the Power eyeing off a top-two finish and the Bulldogs working to stay in the top four.
"Basically win the game (and) we probably do qualify for home finals," Hinkley said.
"If we lose the game we still qualify in the top four to play finals - which is a great achievement in itself.
"But we set out at the start of the year to finish as high as possible and we've still got an opportunity to do that and improve on where we sit currently."
Port lost to the Bulldogs by 19 points back in May but is set to have a significantly different personnel to that clash.
Hinkley is confident the Power have also improved since then.
"We are, hopefully, playing better football than we were at that stage (in round nine) - and I am sure they would be hoping they are doing the same," he said.
"But we get tested every week and this will be no different.
"We think we're going and we're building in the right direction. Proof is in the pudding."
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The Power are yet to beat Melbourne, Geelong, the Bulldogs or fifth-placed Brisbane this season but Hinkley played down any concerns over what impact another loss on Friday would have.
"It will mean that we have to get better, that's as simple as what it will mean," he said.
"Yes I get it and everyone's got every right to throw that and to talk about that, we can't deny that.
"But we'll be doing everything we can to stop it but more importantly we're doing everything we can to build momentum going into the finals series."