But Port surprisingly will not if it meets lower-ranked Collingwood in the grand final on September 29.
A planning session at AFL House yesterday has reignited the tiresome jumper war between the Power and Magpies and made a mockery of Collingwood's claims of having developed a "clash jumper".
AFL officials - concerned by the on-field image to unfold in this year's grand final - looked over the combination of grand final opponents and their potential jumper clashes. They decided Collingwood's alternative black-and-white jumper - with broader white stripes - did not clash enough with Port's teal, black and white guernsey.
So the league's edict will be that the Power must change to its teal and grey jumper if it reaches the grand final to play Collingwood.
This is despite the Power have a higher ranking than Collingwood - second compared to sixth. And it further emphasises Collingwood's alternative jumper is not true to the need of a clash jumper at every AFL club. Port chief executive John James said his club had been clear cut in its views on jumpers at the start of the final series.
"We have - and still have - the full expectation that we will wear our home strip in all our finals," James said. "If we make it to the grand final - and if Collingwood is there also - we will want to wear our home strip."
The AFL's response will be the threat of a $150,000 fine if it arrives in Melbourne, as West Coast did recently for a home-and-away game against the Western Bulldogs, without the sanctioned clash jumper. West Coast was fined $30,000 with $20,000 suspended after the AFL took into account the club's good record.
AFL rules state a club can be fined $5000 for every player not in the league's sanctioned strip. This would equate to $110,000 for a 22-man team with a $40,000 premium penalty on grand final day.
Port's path to the grand final requires a win in Saturday week's preliminary final against either Hawthorn or the Kangaroos.
Collingwood's map to the grand final requires a win in Perth tomorrow night against AFL premier West Coast and then a victory against minor premier Geelong at the MCG in the preliminary final on Friday week. In the first week of the AFL finals, last weekend, the league ordered Adelaide, against Hawthorn, and the Kangaroos, against Geelong, into clash jumpers.
They were both lower-ranked teams than their opponents. If the preliminary final favourites - Geelong and Port - reach the grand final, the Power's argument to keep its home jumper will be weakened by the first-placed Cats being the higher-ranked team.
HAHAHA PORT PIRIE POWER




