MAKE A SMOOTH SUBSTITUTE

As Port Adelaide prepares to host Geelong at Adelaide Oval to kick off this round, most Power fans would have nightmares about what unfolded on the last Saturday in September in 2007.

The Power and the Cats squared off in the Grand Final that year and, after securing their maiden AFL flag three years earlier, many gave Mark Williams’ team a realistic chance against a side which had not won a premiership since 1963.

Alas, we all know the story –it was a record 119-point margin as Geelong broke a 44-year premiership drought.

But rather than look away now Port Adelaide fans, let’s wind the clock back just a few weeks before the 2007 decider when the Power travelled to GMHBA Stadium for a round 21 clash against the red-hot Cats.

After posting 15 wins on the trot coming into the game and playing on their home patch, most thought the Cats would continue their winning ways.

They had lost just once at home that year – a line-in-the-sand shock defeat to North Melbourne in round five which had them teetering at 2-3.

Despite the best efforts of first-year sensation Joel Selwood (25 touches in just his fourth game), the Kangaroos were too clever and too smart.

Wily veteran Adam Simpson (41 disposals) had the ball on a string as North scored a gutsy 16-point win.

That set off a well-documented chain of events that saw some serious soul-searching among the playing and coaching cohort at Geelong.

Whatever was said behind closed doors worked because the response was immediate.

A week later, the Cats pummelled Richmond by 157 points, the first of those 15 successive wins.

But on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the Cattery in round 21, Port Adelaide quickly silenced the home crowd booting 5.2 to 2.1 in the opening term.

Geelong rallied in the second quarter to trail by five points at the main break but Port steadied in the third term and was 19 points up at the final change.