Power can't push their luck ahead of Showdown, says Boak
Port may finish strongly but a fast start is important too, Travis Boak says
TRAVIS Boak is confident in Port Adelaide's ability to run over the top of sides late in games, but says the Power would be pushing their luck to rely on it.
Port strengthened its claim as final-term destroyers against Carlton in round one, booting seven goals to turn a six-point deficit at three quarter-time into a 33-point win.
"100 per cent honest. We're just a great running team. Teams know they're going to play against a hard-running Port Adelaide," Hinkley said.
"We're going to make it a tough day. If you come and play against Port Adelaide, then you're going to have to run. And you're going to have to run really hard for four quarters."
Port will enter Saturday's Showdown against Adelaide clear favourites, particularly given the Crows' last quarter fadeout against Geelong last Thursday.
Adelaide looked capable of staging a remarkable upset at Simonds Stadium when trailing by just five points at the final break, only to be overrun by the Cats to lose by 38 points.
Boak cautioned his teammates against depending on late surges to get them across the line.
"We've got a great amount of confidence in our running ability but we can't afford to have a four or five-goal differential at three-quarter time all the time," Boak said.
"We know it's not always going to happen like that and we need to make sure we start well this weekend, it's going to be hot early but we've got to come out firing.
"It's something we spoke about over the pre-season, it's a momentum thing that happens in games all the time … that's what happens in games of footy and unfortunately we've had a few early in games that haven't gone our way."
Crows captain Nathan van Berlo insisted his side's last-term slump against the Cats had nothing to do with fitness, claiming "we couldn't have got any more work into us over the pre-season".
Instead, the skipper said his side's contested game needed to lift.
"The contested possession and tackle count was well against us in the last quarter which is a fair indication - if you're not winning the ball around the contest you're going to find it pretty hard to move forward," van Berlo said.
"I think the contested possession count there was minus 16 or 17 which is … pretty bad.
"The boys were very disappointed with the showing in the last quarter, it's not the way we want to finish off games."
One player who could help in that department is injured midfielder Richard Douglas.
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