Geelong return home on Sunday afternoon to commence their final month of the home and away season, taking on Port Adelaide at GMHBA Stadium in a must-win clash. 

With four games remaining in the regular season, the Cats sit inside the top four but are still part of a logjam with fourth down to seventh on the ladder tied on 52 points, meaning Geelong just simply need to keep winning. 

This week's challenge is a Port Adelaide side sitting in 11th spot on the ladder, the two teams met earlier this season and Geelong triumphed by 76 points at Adelaide Oval. 

Taking on the likes of Zak Butters and Connor Rozee, here is all the key strengths to watch out for as the Cats do battle with the Power, proudly presented by Deakin University. 

Ladder 

Geelong Cats: 4th (13-6)

Port Adelaide: 11th (8-11)

Points For 

Geelong Cats: 1949

Port Adelaide: 1419

Points Against 

Geelong Cats: 1452

Port Adelaide: 1706

Deakin Performance Stat of the Week 

The Clearance Battle

With players like Zak Butters, Connor Rozee and Ollie Wines rolling through the midfield, Port Adelaide are still a dangerous team around stoppages and can gain ascendancy in the match if they start to dominate the clearance battle. 

Winning an average of 39.4 clearances per game, the Power are the sixth best clearance team in the competition this year, setting one of the biggest differentials in a game against Adelaide in Round 9 when they finished +27 in this stat. 

As a team they are particularly dangerous at stoppages around the ground, with Zak Butters and Ollie Wines both ranked inside the AFL's top 15 players for stoppages clearances in 2025. 

Port Adelaide's Top Clearance Winners

Geelong were able to get on top in this area in the Round 10 clash with Port Adelaide (43-30), with Oisin Mullin notably doing an effective job on Butters limiting him to just three clearances.

Port Adelaide are also able to apply pressure when they do not win the football, ranking in the competition's top two for pressure factor and stoppage defence, regularly making ball use difficult for opponents.

Restricting Mitch Georgiades' Impact

One shining light for Port Adelaide this year has been the emergence of Mitch Georgiades, who surpassed his previous season best goal tally with still six weeks remaining in the 2025 season. 

With 48 goals for the year, Georgiades has climbed to second spot on the Coleman Medal leaderboard, kicking 23 more goals than the next best Port Adelaide player this year. 

He also ranks first in the AFL for marks inside 50 and ninth for contested marks, able to have an impact aerially when allowed space in their forward arc. 

But it might also be something the Cats can exploit this weekend. The Power only have two players this season that have kicked more than 20 goals, in comparison to Geelong who have six different players that have reached that mark, meaning that shutting down Georgiades can significantly limit Port Adelaide's scoring power. 

Melting Butters

As mentioned previously, Zak Butters is still the standout superstar in the Port Adelaide team and has continued to be dominant despite results not going their way. 

The star on-baller missed games early in the season but has been impressive since returning, ranked sixth in the AFL for disposal per game average (28.5), 13th for inside 50s, 10th for contested possessions and sixth for goal assists. 

Butters has amassed 30 or more disposals in eight of his 16 games this year, while also winning six or more clearances on 12 different occasions. 

Oisin Mullin played a tagging role on Butters in the Round 10 clash between the two sides, limiting him to 20 disposals and three clearances which is his second lowest total in both categories this season, it will be interesting to see if Chris Scott deploys this same tactic again on Sunday afternoon.