The Swans scars and the weakness the Power can expose

Sydney will be carrying some scar tissue into this weekend’s Preliminary Final against Port Adelaide.

The Swans have lost their last eight matches against the Power with their last win over the South Australian club coming back in 2016.

Add to that the 112-point disaster result at the Adelaide Oval in Round 21 and the Swans enter Friday night’s home clash on the wrong end of some dominant head-to-head form.

Luke Hodge experienced a similar run of outs at Hawthorn when Geelong held dominance over them and is aware that the Swans will have some scars against Port.

“There’s some scars there, there’s mental scars there for sure,” Hodge said on SEN’s Whateley.

“Let’s be honest, Sydney haven’t beaten Port Adelaide for eight years, the last eight encounters have gone Port Adelaide’s way.

“The Sydney players would be, ‘oh no, they’re our bogey team’.

“It’s the ‘Kennett Curse’ but with two different teams. We played some good footy against Geelong, but they were a better team and always got over the top (of us). We started to believe that, we started to pump Geelong up.

“Sydney, do they have that same mindset? They’ve got a lot of players in that team that have not beaten Port Adelaide.

“That has got to scar on you a little bit. ‘Do I hesitate? Do I take this kick? It didn’t work last time’. It makes you second guess.

“Port Adelaide will have a lot of players that are confident because the things they’ve tried against this Sydney side have worked.”

Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne believes Port’s game style under Ken Hinkley right now will bring them into the contest against John Longmire’s Swans side that has conceded seven scores of 80 or more in their last 10 games.

Additionally, the Power have restricted the Swans to an average of 55.5 points across their last six encounters.

“That is going to be hard to play against,” Hoyne said on SEN’s Sportsday.

“That is the reason why they (Port) are going to be a chance to cause an upset. They can make it a scrap.

“We’ve seen what they’ve done against Sydney over the last seven or eight times. Sydney haven’t been able to score against Port.

“They make it a scrap, they make it hard to play against, which is not something we’ve associated with Port over the last couple of years.

“You have a look at what Sydney are doing at the moment and defensively they have concerns. When you win possession, they are the fifth easiest team in the competition to score against. That’s a red flag heading into a Preliminary Final.

“I don’t think this game is as straightforward as what I’m hearing from a lot of people who are assuming that Sydney should get this done.

“Off what Port Adelaide has done over the last two months minus that first week of finals (against Geelong), this will be scrap and a challenge for the Swans.”

The Swans, who won the minor premiership, are considered firm favourited to beat the Power, but the recent head-to-head dominance certainly provides Hinkley’s men with a great winning chance.

The Preliminary Final between Sydney and Port Adelaide takes palace at the SCG on Friday night from 7:40pm AEST.