PLAYING against the odds won't ease the pressure felt by Port Adelaide's players in Saturday's semi-final against Fremantle at Patersons Stadium, defender Tom Jonas says.
The Power flew to Perth on Thursday to take on the Dockers for a second time in three weeks, after suffering an eight-point loss in round 23.
Fremantle has won 28 of its past 30 games at home, making the Power's road trip one of the League's hardest.
Compounding Freo’s statistical advantage is the fact that since 2000 only two sides – Port and West Coast – have finished inside the top four and exited a finals campaign in straight sets.
On the face of it, the burden appears on Fremantle to avoid becoming the third.
But Jonas took a different view.
"We feel like there's still a lot on the line, there's obviously a spot in the preliminary final up for grabs," Jonas told AFL.com.au.
"We’ve put the pressure on ourselves all year to be the best we can be so we'll just do that.
"Finals come down to those really important moments so those match-defining instances and being able to win more than you lose of those.
"That can set the tone for the game."
Jonas played loose in defence for the most part last Sunday against Richmond and to great effect.
He took a career-high 12 marks, had five rebound 50s and a goal assist.
The Power will require a similar effort from the 23-year-old on Saturday given the long list of damaging Fremantle players.
Jonas tipped the only way to restrict the Dockers' stars would be for the entire side to lock down on them – not only the defenders.
"They've got a lot of good players between 'Pav' (Matthew Pavlich) and their midfield with (Nat) Fyfe, (Michael) Barlow and (David) Mundy – those sorts of blokes – it comes down to everyone playing their role," he said.
"You can't just shut down one or two because then someone else will get off the chain.
"At the same time we feel like we can match them in that area because we've got some onballers that are in great form and we can do the same to them."
