AFL ladder-leading Sydney's stuttering form isn't fooling anyone at Port Adelaide, least of all coach Ken Hinkley.
The Swans have lost four of their past five games heading into a high-stakes clash with the Power at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
Port have won the past seven meetings between the sides, but Hinkley's message to his troops is simple: beware the wounded beast.
"They're six points clear on top of the ladder," Hinkley told reporters on Friday.
"Every club at some point gets an opportunity to turn it around.
"We know how good Sydney are and we know what to expect.
"They've got (James) Rowbottom coming back and they've got their complete midfield.
"They're a pretty damn good team, so it's going to take everything we've got."
In stark contrast to Sydney, the Power's recent form has generated four wins from their past five matches.
It has put them in top-four contention, with the Swans clash looming as a high-pressure litmus test.
"Sydney make you bring that (pressure) and from our point of view we expect to do that every game," Hinkley said.
"We've been in reasonable form over the last four or five weeks and been pretty consistent in our performances.
"We lost the one game by a small margin up at the Gold Coast, but outside of that we look like we're playing pretty strong footy at the moment.
"Hopefully we'll get another indication (against Sydney)."
Hinkley faces a question around where to position versatile tall Esava Ratugolea, who impressed in attack during Port's last-start win over Carlton.
Ratugolea could be required to shift back to defence to help Aliir Aliir and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher cover dangerous Sydney's marking targets Logan McDonald, Joel Amartey and Hayden McLean.
McDonald spent time in the back-line during the Swans' loss to the Western Bulldogs last round when Lewis Melican (hamstring) was subbed out, but Aaron Francis has been recalled as defensive cover.
"(Ratugolea) did play forward last week and it looked OK," Hinkley said.
"But they've got three talls, so there's a little bit going on with what Sydney do or don't do ... so we've just got to be a little bit flexible with the way we go about it."
Hinkley lauded Aliir's form ahead of the defender's 150-game milestone, which comes against the club with whom he played his first seven AFL seasons.
The 29-year-old has played 85 games for the Power since making the switch from Sydney at the end of 2020.
"He's in as good a form as any key back in the game at the moment," Hinkley said.
"His last five or six weeks have been ridiculously good.
"It's just funny how it's worked out - his 150th game is against his old club, which he has great love and respect for.
"I'm really happy that he - hopefully - gets to celebrate with a win against his old club."
