PORT Adelaide hopes the forecast of heavy rain comes true for its clash against Hawthorn at AAMI Stadium on Saturday, claiming sodden conditions will aid its cause.
Heavy rain fell as the Power ran out for their final training session on Friday and is predicted to continue until Sunday morning, with a chance of thunderstorms on Saturday night.
Given Hawthorn's status as the second-best contested ball-winner in the competition, Power assistant Matthew Nicks stopped short of predicting slippery conditions would be a clear advantage.
But as the Hawks are arguably the most skillful team in the League, he said the Power would prefer to play in the rain, given a choice.
"Against a side like Hawthorn, every side would like it to bucket down and be under water because they're such a skillful side," Nicks said.
"We'd love it to be wet and we think this year we've really lifted our contested game.
"They're a very good contested side. We know it's going to be a tough one for us but if we had the choice between super dry and wet, well, no doubt we'd love to play them in the bog."
While Nicks talked up Hawthorn's tall forwards in Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Jack Gunston, he said its smaller options presented the biggest danger given the expected conditions.
The Power's small defenders had "studied hard" though and Nicks backed them to do the job against their opponents.
"They've got some super [smalls], (Brad) Hill as well, a young lad (Cyril) Rioli who came in last week – we'd expect him to probably play some more game time – and (Luke) Breust," he said.
"They just rip around underneath 'Buddy' and Roughead ... there's no weaknesses in terms of their talent.
"We've got some smalls that we think are in some pretty good form. (Matthew) Broadbent's one, Tommy Logan's been in some fantastic form…we're confident we can get the job done on some of those smalls."
Although confident the Power's defenders can go with Hawthorn's forwards, Nicks admitted they needed help from further up the ground.
If the club's midfielders and forwards failed to defend properly, as they did at times against Essendon last week, the likes of Alipate Carlile, Tom Logan and Tom Jonas would be in for a tough day.
"If you look at the best forwards in the comp at the moment as far as ratings go, they've got six of them in the top 22," he said.
"Who's the dangerous one? They're all dangerous.
"It's a massive challenge for our backline…if we defend the ball up the ground well with our forwards and midfielders it makes it an easier job."
Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry
