It remains to be seen whether Jed Adcock plays in the AFL again this season.

But the injured Brisbane Lions vice-captain is still set to make an impact on his side after issuing a stirring challenge ahead of Saturday night's re-match with Port Adelaide: "Stick up for yourselves."

The last full game Adcock played before suffering what appeared to be a season-ending knee injury was the Lions' upset 48-point away loss to Port six weeks ago.

Adcock was still clearly irked by the way Port went about unsettling their younger players in the round 14 clash and passionately called on his teammates to "get their hands dirty" against the Power at the Gabba.

In a turning point in the July 11 match, Lions dangerman Jared Brennan lost the plot after constant Josh Carr niggling and headbutted his opponent.

The Power went on to kick six straight goals to seal victory over an unsettled Lions.

"The last time we played Port down there they bullied us in a way - we are better than that," Adcock said in Brisbane on Tuesday.

"You can't let sides go in there and try and beat up your younger players - what happened to Jared was a fair example.

"We can't allow that to happen again.

"We have to stick up for ourselves, get our hands dirty in a way."

Adcock said the Lions should have protected Brennan more during the fiery clash.

"Definitely. The thing was they were doing it to us but we weren't doing it to them - we didn't take their good players out of the game but they took ours out," he said.

"That's one key thing - we will be taking out their run and carry, players like (Danyle) Pearce, (David) Rodan, the Burgoynes, try and take them out of the game."

But Adcock baulked when asked if the Lions should show "more mongrel" in the countdown to their first finals campaign in four years.

The Lions (7th; 11-8-1 record) are guaranteed a top eight berth with two full rounds left despite tasting victory just once in the past month.

"We are not going to go out there and deliberately take players out of the game," Adcock said.

"We have shown over the years that the ability is there (to play finals) ... but at the end of the year we haven't been mentally or physically tough enough to play this type of game for 22 rounds.

"The pressure goes up at the end of the footy season and at the moment we are not coping well enough - hopefully we rectify that in the next couple of weeks."

Adcock was expected to undergo knee surgery after going down to Geelong in round 15 but remarkably could return in round 22 in Sydney.

"But a lot of things have to go right for me to play again this year," Adcock said.

"I haven't played in a finals game before.

"It's everyone's dream to at least play a final and I am close."

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