Port Adelaide’s semifinal meeting against Hawthorn on Friday night will be just the third finals meeting between the two teams. 

Both teams were incredibly impressive during the back end of the home and away season, but had distinctly different opening finals matches. 

Hawthorn and Port Adelaide have met 40 times since the Power entered the AFL in 1997, with the current ledger sitting 23-17 Port’s way. 

The only two finals meetings between the two sides have both resulted in thrilling three-point wins to Hawthorn.

If the previous clashes are anything to go by, we’re in for an absolute treat this week.

2001 semifinal: Hawthorn 10.12 (72) def. Port Adelaide 10.9 (69)

Hawthorn started the 2001 season in red hot form, sitting on top of the ladder after Round 8 after a perfect 8-0 start to the season, but fell away towards the back half of the year to finish in sixth position. 

Port, in its fifth season of existence in the AFL, enjoyed its best season to date in 2001. After finishing 14th the season before with just seven wins, the Power rose up to third on the ladder with 16 home and away wins. 

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The first week of the finals pitted Port Adelaide against another surprise packet, the second-placed Brisbane Lions, who had finished the home and away season having reeled off 13 consecutive victories.

Port proved no match for Brisbane in the qualifying final, going down by 32 points at the Gabba to the eventual premiers. 

Hawthorn found itself up against the Sydney Swans at Docklands Stadium, and brushed its opponents aside by 51 points in a commanding performance. 

The semi final between Port Adelaide and Hawthorn at Football Park was the first home final for Port since it had entered the competition, and the atmosphere was palpable. 

Despite the loss to Brisbane the week before, Port had finished the home and away season with six straight wins, including one against the reigning premiers, Essendon.

There were no signs of nerves early from Port Adelaide in the first term as the Power kicked three goals to one to take a 12-point lead into quarter-time, but the Hawks steadied in the second quarter to take a one-point lead into the main break.

Hawthorn’s gallant resistance looked like it was broken in the third quarter when Port kicked four goals to one to take a 17-point lead into the final change. The Power’s smalls ran riot in a blistering four-minute spurt which saw a Gavin Wanganeen goal followed by two to Che Cockatoo-Collins. 

Having kicked just five goals through three quarters, a comeback appeared to be unlikely for the Hawks until its forward line burst to life. 

Nathan Thompson, who had gone goalless to that point, kicked the first two goals of the final quarter to bring the Hawks to within a kick out of nowhere. 

Port got itself a steadier through the unlikeliest source, its fullback Daryl Wakelin, who kicked truly from a set shot to restore a 10-point buffer. 

Thompson then found a leading John Barker deep in Hawthorn’s forward pocket for a set shot. Despite being concussed earlier in the game, Barker went back and calmly slotted the drop punt from what seemed like an impossible angle. 

“I had some issues with being able to see and had some blurred vision that started after a knock in first quarter,” Barker told Hawthorn’s Golden Years podcast in 2020. 

“I spent some time down in the changerooms being sick … I only remember bits and pieces, like the old trainer Kenny Goddard holding me up in the shower when I was nauseous.”

Port Adelaide wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Stuart Dew had blossomed into one of the league’s most dangerous forwards in 2001, and he swung onto his left boot under immense pressure to kick his 44th and final goal of the season to once again give his side some breathing room with 6.53 left. 

“He’s done it, unbelievable! If Barker was the only man on the ground who could kick it from the other end, Dew was the only player there that could shrug the tackle, arch his back, and bang it home,” Bruce McAvaney said on Seven’s coverage after Dew’s incredible finish on the run.

Hawthorn did not take to long to respond. The Hawks won the centre clearance immediately after Dew’s goal and a brilliant deft touch from Richie Vandenberg allowed Daniel Harford to draw his side to within a kick once again, setting up a grandstand finish with 6.11 remaining in the match.

Port Adelaide came within inches of responding instantly, with Fabian Francis (the step-father of current Port star Jason Horne-Francis) hitting the post on the run after a brilliant intercept. 

Finals are often the arena where heroes are made, and on this night, Mark Graham was one for Hawthorn. With less than four minutes left, Graham, a defender, found himself in a ruck contest on the wing against Port’s All-Australian ruckman and club captain Matthew Primus. 

Graham, who finished the match with 24 disposals and 12 marks, shoved Primus aside and grabbed the ball out of the ruck and found Angelo Lekkas unmarked in the middle of the ground. Lekkas kicked it inside 50 and found Hawthorn’s other hero of the night — Barker.

As he had shown earlier in the quarter, Barker went back and calmly slotted the set shot from 45m out with 2.26 left in the game, giving Hawthorn a three-point lead, one that it would not relinquish.

“This is just an incredible performance,” Gerard Healy said after Barker’s goal on Seven’s coverage.

“I thought it was going to be an avalanche, and it has been. The Hawks, after some spirited words from their coaches at three-quarter time, have found another gear, they’ve found some more energy.”

A final push forward from Warren Tredrea was beaten by the siren as the Hawks coaching box erupts.

“Hawthorn have won it! It’s one of the greatest victories in the history of a club that had such a run in the 1980s,” McAvaney said on the final siren.

The Hawks became just the second Victorian team to win a final interstate, joining their Adelaide counterparts from 1991 who beat West Coast in a qualifying final at Subiaco Oval. 

Hawthorn faced Essendon in the preliminary final a week later at the MCG and proved gallant once again as they gave the reigning premiers an almighty scare before going down by nine points in another thriller. 

Port’s finals troubles continued over the next two seasons before the club eventually broke through for its first and only AFL premiership in 2004.

2014 preliminary final: Hawthorn 15.7 (97) def. Port Adelaide 13.16 (94)

The two teams had to wait 13 years to meet again in the finals and in that time the script had flipped completely. 

Hawthorn had gone from the scrappy underdog to the being the defending champion, while the majority of Port’s 2004 premiership side had filtered out, making way for a hungry, young crop of stars. 

The Hawks backed up their premiership with another strong home and away season, winning 17 games to finish second to Sydney on percentage. Port too enjoyed a solid season, finishing fifth after winning 14 games. 

Hawthorn came into the match having enjoyed a week off courtesy of a comfortable 36-point win over Geelong in the qualifying final, while Port knocked off Richmond in Adelaide and then upset Fremantle in Perth to reach the prelim. 

Four players who lined up in this match will line up on Friday night: Jack Gunston and Luke Breust for Hawthorn and Ollie Wines and Travis Boak for Port Adelaide. The 2014 season was current Port coach Ken Hinkley’s second season in charge. Hawthorn’s coach, Sam Mitchell, also played in the match.

Despite being the underdog coming into the contest, the Power started the game positively in front of almost 75,000 at the MCG and missed some gilt-edged chances in the first quarter as they took a 12-point lead into the first change after kicking 3.9 for the quarter.

A young Port Adelaide side was made to pay for its inaccuracy over the next two quarters as the Hawks burst to life and slammed on 11.3 to take a 23-point lead into the final change. 

Jarryd Roughead manhandled Port’s defence, kicking three of his six goals in the third quarter as the Hawks put Port Adelaide to the sword. 

Hawthorn extended its lead out to as much as 29 points midway through the final quarter after Jack Gunston and Isaac Smith hit the scoreboard and led by 28 with just over eight minutes to go when Angus Monfries received a free kick 25m out on a slight angle. 

Monfries kicked truly to draw Port to within 22 points, but at the time the goal seemed more like a consolation prize. 

However, it sparked a furious rally to end the match.

Chad Wingard, who was widely regarded as one of the most exciting young players at the time, drilled a left-footed banana to give Port real hope with 6.36 left on the clock, cutting Hawthorn’s lead to 16 points.

Port Adelaide had all the running and when Jared Polec launched a 55m bomb from a set shot to draw the margin to just 10 points with 4.09 remaining, Hawthorn fans in the crowd were extremely nervous.

“The place has gone berserk!” Brian Taylor said on commentary for Seven. 

“This is unbelievable,” added Matthew Richardson alongside him. 

Monfries nailed his fourth goal of the match to draw Port to within a kick with 2.40 left on the clock with Hawthorn mastercoach Alastair Clarkson nervously taking a sip of water after the goal went through. The champs were in deep, deep trouble, and he knew it.

“This is out of control, this preliminary final,” Luke Darcy said on Seven’s coverage. 

Port had one more chance to go ahead with 1.18 to go. In scenes eerily similar to Barker’s set shot from the pocket at Football Park, Andrew Moore also had a set shot from the same area of the MCG, albeit further out, but wasn’t able to convert as the Hawks punched it through for a behind.

One last push forward for the Power ended at the half forward line as Brian Lake pounced on the ball after a marking contest with Monfries on the 50m arc. 

Hawthorn went on to win the premiership the following week, the second in a three-peat, by thrashing Sydney in the grand final. The Hawks’ 2015 grand final win over the Dockers was incredibly the proud club’s last until last week’s elimination final win over the Western Bulldogs.

Immediately after the final siren the camera panned to Port president David Koch, who had a proud look on his face. He’d have figured this would be the a brief stumble in Port’s eventual run towards a premiership.

Incredibly, this match is the closest the Power has come to reaching a grand final under Hinkley.