POWER PLAY FOR TOP SPOT

Awin over Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night could mean the unthinkable for Port Adelaide. Top spot on the ladder.

It will come with a qualification, to be fair. The Power will have played one more game than incumbent Collingwood, which is enjoying its bye weekend. Port’s turn to put its feet up will then follow.

But it has been a mighty season for the Power nonetheless and victory on Thursday night would rightly be treated with gusto.

Port entered the season with Ken Hinkley’s coaching future as the main storyline and despite 10 successive wins and an 11-2 record, the club and coach insist there will be no discussions about an extension to his 11-year tenure until at least August.

Hinkley has coached superbly this year.

He moved to the bench early in the season where he prowls the boundary in the style of a soccer manager, overseeing the generational change in the midfield, which is now largely the domain of Zak Butters, Connor Rozee and Jason Horne-Francis.

EDITOR’S LETTER MICHAEL LOVETT

Butters has enjoyed an exceptional season and leads the AFL coaches award by 10 votes after another best-afield performance against the Western Bulldogs last Friday.

Horne-Francis is content back in his home state and is showing flashes of brilliance.

He kicked a superb goal at a critical moment in the final quarter that had a bit of everything – speed, skill, dare and innate game awareness.

Hinkley hasn’t been afraid to make tough calls at selection.

Skipper Tom Jonas has not been picked since returning from suspension and stalwart defender Ryan Burton was omitted last week.

Thursday’s game will be Port’s third in 12 days and the build-up will be enormous.

Geelong will be up and about, off its bye and buoyed by an impressive u This week, Richmond’s Trent Cotchin becomes the third and final player to reach the 300-game milestone in 2023.

He joins North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein and Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom who celebrated their 300-game milestones earlier this season.

There is now a gap to players such as Callan Ward (282 games), Dustin Martin (281) and Daniel Rich (275), Luke Parker (271), Luke Breust (271) and Isaac Smith (270) who will be aiming for 300 games in 2024, assuming injury and form are not a factor. But back to Cotchin.

The Record’s ANDREW SLEVISON spoke to former Tiger greats Matthew Richardson and Alex Rance about their ex-teammate and both were effusive in their praise of the man who this week will become just the sixth Tiger to reach the milestone.

22-point win over the Bulldogs at its last start – and now the reinforcements are coming.

Skipper Patrick Dangerfield is over his hamstring strain and certain to play.

Barring mishaps, Max Holmes (meniscus) and Mitch Duncan (hamstring) will also play and Jack Bowes is another to be considered. The Cats are 6-6 and ninth; it hasn’t been the smoothest premiership defence and they have twice dropped three on the trot. They face Port and then host Melbourne on consecutive Thursday nights. Win both and those above them on the ladder will be looking anxiously in their rear-view mirrors. Lose both, and the quest for back-to-back flags might be over. The Friday night focus moves to the Gabba where the enigmatic Brisbane Lions host the disappointing Sydney.

“He was heavily involved in Richmond coming out from the abyss, from being stuck in no man’s land for 37 years,” Richardson said.

“I feel like he changed the face of leadership,” Rance said of Cotchin, who is the only player in the club’s history to captain three premiership teams.

It’s often forgotten that Cotchin was elevated to the captaincy at just 22 in 2013 and led the Tigers to finals in his first three years in the role.

An 8-14 win-loss season in 2016 saw a massive change in playing style – but most importantly, Richmond stuck by coach Damien Hardwick and backed in their captain … and the rest, as they say, is history.

At home, the Lions are a powerhouse, unbeaten through five games and with an average winning margin of 35 points.

Away is a different story and their 25-point loss to lowly Hawthorn at the MCG last weekend again raises questions as to their premiership credentials.

They host Fremantle at Giants Stadium, with the Dockers no doubt ruing a disappointing home loss to Richmond that now leaves them a game out of the eight.

The Saints will be seeking to crash the party for the second straight week.

Last week Franklin, now Cotchin.

The Swans couldn’t get it done for Lance Franklin’s 350th game last week and were held scoreless in the opening term by St Kilda at the SCG.

They are mired in 13th place, with the post Grand Final thrashing hoodoo appearing all too real. Finals in 2023 would seem a long shot now.

Their crosstown rival the GWS Giants took care of business last week against North Melbourne and probably need to put together several more wins to keep their slim finals hopes alive.