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AAP
AAP
Steve Larkin

Port plan to land punch on finals-bound Crows

Port captain Connor Rozee plans to return from injury against bitter rivals Adelaide. (Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOS)

Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee wants to carry a broken hand into battle and land a proverbial blow on arch rival Adelaide's finals ambitions.

Rozee plans to return for Saturday night's Showdown of the South Australian rivals, pending how his left hand copes with midweek training.

"It will be a pain threshold sort of injury, it's a broken bone so there is always going to be a little bit there," Rozee told reporters on Monday.

"We'll reassess after we finish training on Wednesday ... at the moment, the plan is to play."

Disappointed Port Adelaide players.
Connor Rozee says it's disappointing for Port to be out of the finals race. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

The 11th-placed Power are out of finals contention but the Crows will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Adelaide hold third spot but are far from settled - they're one win from top spot but also one win from seventh - with Port hoping to dent their run to the finals.

"That will be the plan pretty much every week from now on," Rozee said.

"Any scalp that we can take will be a building block for the future.

"There's always emotion in Showdowns. The Crows have been in our position ... and it has been vice versa, so we're really looking forward to this weekend.

"It's always a competitive battle and anyone can win it.

"There is no lack of motivation when it comes to these games ... the fact is, the intensity is much higher than alot of other games, which makes it very exciting to play in."

Celebrating Adelaide Crows players.
Crows players celebrate their thrilling five-point win over Port in round nine. (Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOS)

Rozee sidestepped suggestions the looming Showdown had become the Power's biggest game of the season.

"Every week is our biggest game from here on out," he said.

"As I said, there's no lack of motivation for these types of games.

"We aren't playing finals and it's extremely disappointing because that is what you come in to every year wanting to do, and what we have done pretty consistently for the last few years."

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