Port Adelaide's quest for an improbable victory over AFL pacesetters Collingwood has been hit by the withdrawal of key duo Troy Chaplin and Matt Thomas.

The experienced pair were ruled out on match eve as the last-placed Power prepare to host the ladder-leading Magpies on Saturday night.

Chaplin (foot) and Thomas (kneecap) have been replaced by novices Ben Jacobs and Matthew Broadbent for what looms a lopsided fixture at AAMI Stadium.

"We have got a couple of other sore guys in the team, so the more we have, the more risk we are going to be of having a few men down in the team, which we don't want to be," Port coach Matthew Primus told reporters on Friday.

"(We are) a little but vulnerable, but it's a great experience for them."

Primus has overseen just two victories in Port's worst ever season and his team are considered scant chance of upsetting a Collingwood outfit strengthened by the return of the likes of Dale Thomas and Alan Didak.

But the Power coach rejected adopting negative tactics to stifle the Magpies.

"No extravagant tactics, I don't think they do too much for you," Primus said.

"It might help you for five minutes but in the end they don't really help you win or lose games or educate your players how you want them to play.

"We know how we want to play and we want to keep educating our players.

"But in saying that, we have got to be mindful of the opposition.

"We'll come up with some tactics ... you have to try and impact Collingwood early on the scoreboard, don't let them dictate.

"But we're not going to change the way we want to play footy completely just because we're playing Collingwood."

Primus urged his players to draw inspiration from veteran Chad Cornes, who will end his distinguished AFL career after the game.

"We have spent the week having a look at Chad Cornes' highlights and his career," he said.

"Chad has got some super talent, no doubt about it, but he built his career on that (competitiveness).

"We have got to have that every week regardless of who we're playing, where we're playing, when we're playing."

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