Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has ordered his players to forget the AFL finals - for now.
Hinkley's club is assured a finals berth but could finish anywhere from fourth to sixth, depending on the result of their Saturday night home game against Gold Coast and other fixtures.
But Hinkley says the possible play-off permutations don't interest him.
"They are things I don't buy into and I have spoken to the players about that," Hinkley told reporters on Friday.
"We have got to control the way we perform - let the results, let the ladder, let everything else work itself out.
"And when that is all done and dusted, hopefully we are in really strong form.
"Control what you can control. And for us, we have got everything in our control at the moment, and that is our performance tomorrow night.
"It's really simple: just play the game on its merits, be as ferocious as we can be."
Gold Coast, under interim coach Dean Solomon, can't make the finals and again will be without injured superstar Gary Ablett - though Hinley was unfazed at Ablett's non-selection.
"I didn't care," he said.
"We are preparing to play Solly (Solomon) and his team who are trying to make some changes there. Their team is their team, it's not one player.
"They'll be pretty combative, they will be very defensively minded.
"They are playing their last game of the season, I think it's pretty dangerous. They have got a lot to play for themselves whether it be individually or collectively and obviously Dean is trying to make his own little mark on the team."
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