AFL finals LIVE updates: Blow for Port as Dixon out with illness ...

Ken Hinkley could not have asked for much more from his players after last week.

Well, he probably could have asked for a few more goals so the scoreboard matched their domination around the ground, but the effort was there, and the atmosphere was electric.

At quarter-time, it’s Port 2.3 (15) to Hawthorn 0.2 (2).

Hawthorn supporters, can you breathe? If so, you’re doing a bit better than your team.

Every time they get the ball, they’re under siege almost immediately. Combine the heat from Port with the noise from the crowd and it must be difficult to think.

Todd Marshall’s set shot from 30 metres out has put Port up by 12 points. The Hawks are yet to kick a goal.

The best thing I can say about the Hawks now is that the margin is still manageable because they have been outplayed.

Esava Ratugolea had six touches last week. He’s already had four tonight. And I reckon he’s done more in 15 minutes than he did the whole game against Geelong.

If you listened to our tipping pod, you would have heard our, um, robust assessment of his qualifying final.

First goal of the game to Port Adelaide through Connor Rozee, who was rewarded for a tackle on James Worpel deep in the Power’s forward line.

We’re only a few minutes in, but Port have started with far more intensity than they did last week. Mind you, they began awfully against Geelong, so the bar is low. Let’s see if they can sustain this for longer than a few minutes.

Tension and anxiety have pervaded Adelaide this week and those sentiments remain palpably in the air in the build up to Port Adelaide’s semi-final clash with Hawthorn.

In perfect spring conditions, Power fans are hopeful, if not overly confident, of seeing their side end its run of finals outs and end the Hawks’ purple patch.

Port were smashed by Geelong by 84 points in last week’s qualifying final - and their under-siege coach Ken Hinkley duly smashed by the club’s passionate fan base all week.

Hinkley’s coaching career at Alberton sits precariously on a knife’s edge - it could come to a crashing end tonight, or it could continue to a fourth preliminary final.

Ken Hinkley.Credit: Getty Images

Both teams’ colours stood out, in the city centre and on the march to Adelaide Oval across the Torrens Footbridge.

Brown-and-gold scarves bedecked with wizard hats are aplenty behind the northern goals and heavily populated on the eastern side. The Hawks supporters’ belief is immense and obvious.

Both teams are out on the field.

Lots of steely looks on the faces of the Port players, plenty of smiles for the Hawks, who are celebrating Luke Breust’s 300th game and Dylan Moore’s 100th. The banner was a beauty. Hopefully, we can get a pic of it a bit later on.

My only disappointment with the banner was it wasn’t an old-school version where the players actually tear through it, occasionally trip over or get tangled in the sticky tape used to keep it together.