And for Benalla product Tom Rockliff the win was made even sweeter in what was his first finals appearance in a 205-match career.
“It was everything I imagined and more,” Rockliff told his club's media team after the game.
“There’s no doubt that there’s more pressure and you’ve got to earn your kicks, that’s for sure.
“We felt like Geelong were on top, more so in that second quarter and then once we wrestled that momentum in the third quarter, we played the way we wanted.
“We knew it was going to be a high-pressure game and particularly won and lost in the midfield.
“We felt like last time we played them they got on top around there.
“They had plenty of easy ball around there to find (Tom) Hawkins one-out inside 50 and they found him enough last night but they were in much better positions for us because he was wide and had a lot of tough shots.
“We felt like through the midfield they weren’t getting a lot of clean ball and when we got the opportunity to win our clearances and go forward, we just played the brand of footy we wanted to.”
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Rockliff proved to be midfield bull for Port throughout the night, racking up 22 disposals, five clearances and laying a match-high nine tackles.
The former Benalla Saints star has returned to Port's side with a vengeance after finding himself on the outer mid-season.
“Since I’ve come back in, I’ve tried to be a defensive-type mid for the boys,” he said.
“We know Boaky (Travis Boak), Ollie (Wines) and Pepp (Sam Powell-Pepper) are all in pretty good form at the moment and it’s important that we get the balance right around that and we’re not all ball hunting or all trying to win the footy at once.
“I know what my role is in the team – to win the ball in close and get it to the outside.
“The outside receivers can take it and run it – I’m not going to be the one taking bounces down the wing.
“I’m just making sure that I’m playing to my strengths and that is my defensive side, making sure my tackling is where it needs to be and just fighting, scrapping to get a hand in there and if they do win the clearance making sure it comes out pretty scrappy and no clean ball.”
Port Adelaide will host the winner of Friday night's semi-final between Richmond and St Kilda next week.
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