FORMER captain Steven King made his pitch for a berth in Geelong's AFL grand final team with a solid game for the Cats in their VFL premiership win against Coburg at Princes Park yesterday, but it is still not clear whether he will replace Mark Blake for Saturday's encounter with Port Adelaide.

And in Adelaide, Port Adelaide defender Alipate Carlile firmed as the expected replacement for the injured Michael Wilson.

Watched by Cats coach Mark Thompson and the entire Geelong senior list, 28-year-old King started in the ruck, had 11 disposals, three marks and a batch of hitouts.

After Geelong's 74-point win, VFL squad coach Leigh Tudor praised King for his influence, especially in the third quarter, when the Cats ran away with the game.

"All he can do is play well against whoever's put up against him," Tudor said. "I thought today his third quarter set us alight. It was outstanding. That's a decision for the senior guys this week, and that's good." The King-Blake decision will dominate discussion this week. King has not played since round 20 against the Kangaroos, and has played only five matches this season in a career tally of 192. Blake has the inside running as the incumbent, but was not overly impressive against Collingwood in the preliminary final, and Geelong will confront an opponent with arguably the competition's best ruck combination in Brendon Lade and Dean Brogan.

Power coach Mark Williams predicted that after his lack of influence in Geelong's preliminary final win over Collingwood, Blake would make way for King.

"I would think they'd bring Steven King back in," Williams said on Saturday night. "I heard (Geelong coach Mark Thompson) saying how disappointed he was with Blake, so I would think Steven King will play."

Geelong captain Tom Harley said after yesterday's game: "Kingy's form … in the last couple of weeks has been fantastic in the VFL. The door, I think, is probably still ajar."

King looks to be the only player pushing up for selection this week, although this could depend on the fitness of Steve Johnson, who hurt a shoulder last Friday night. Travis Varcoe, Tom Hawkins and Brent Prismall all were prominent yesterday, but the standout of the senior-list players was Henry Playfair, who starred at centre half-back.

Wilson's ruptured Achilles tendon has thrown a second finals lifeline to Carlile, who was dropped for the preliminary final to make way for Darryl Wakelin.

Carlile, 20, who replaced Wakelin after the 2004 premiership full-back tore an adductor muscle during the Power's dramatic last-gasp win over Geelong in round 21, is now odds-on to return to the side for the grand final to cover Wilson.

Wilson, 30, will have surgery this week to repair tendon, injured during Port Adelaide's 87-point demolition of the Kangaroos on Saturday.

Last week, Williams described the decision to select Wakelin, a veteran of 260 matches, ahead of Carlile as a tough one.

"It was close. Without doubt, our plan this year was to see if we can get some games into Alipate and we did," he said last Friday.

Carlile was selected after Wakelin walked across Kardinia Park in tears at the conclusion of the Geelong game, fearing his season and career was over. On Saturday, he bounced straight back into form with 18 disposals.

Wakelin described Wilson's injury as "heartbreaking". "He's the heart and soul of our football club."