Port Adelaide star Zak Butters left red-faced after mixing up Kane Cornes and Kane Farrell

Port Adelaide star Zak Butters has been left a little red-faced after getting his Kanes mixed up when fronting the media on Tuesday.

The vice-captain was asked if Kane will be on the plane to Sydney for Friday night’s preliminary final against the Swans.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Zak Butters gets mixed up with question about Kane.

The journalist was referring to running defender Kane Farrell, who is pushing to make an unlikely return from a hamstring injury.

But Butters thought it was in reference to Power great turned commentator Kane Cornes.

“I’m not sure about Kane’s travel commitments or arrangements, but we’ll take him on the plane,” Butters said with a laugh.

A follow-up question about Farrell’s recovery sprung Butters into action.

“I feel like Kane’s been super, it wasn’t looking so good for him at one stage. Credit to him for the way he’s handled it and bounced back, he just kept showing up and trying to get better. He’s taken some big steps forward in the last few days,” he said before Farrell was later ruled out.

Butters then realised his earlier mistake.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t know if you meant Kane Cornes or Kane Farrell,” he added before breaking out into laughter.

Butters was perhaps expecting a question about Cornes given what happened after the qualifying final loss to Geelong.

Cornes questioned Butters after he was subbed out with sore ribs.

The dual All-Australian played in the semi-final win over Hawthorn and will again push through the pain on Friday night.

“I got another training session under the belt today, and a really good one by the boys again,” Butters told reporters.

“I was able to get through and definitely tick some more boxes and get some more confidence in my body.

“If you look across the league at this time of the year ... a few players we have (are) on modified training a bit.

“It’s a long season, a lot of games are footy, so you just have to do whatever you can just make sure by the time Friday night rolls around I am ready to go.

“I still like to attack it and still push myself.”

Butters was in “a little bit of pain” in Port’s thrilling three-point semi-final win against the Hawks.

“But I feel like I’m in pain most weekends and so nothing new there,” he said.

“Footy is a demanding sport. There’s plenty of other players going through some other injuries ... and they’re getting up and playing key roles for their teams.”

Butters was already preparing for a potential match-up against Sydney clamp James Jordon, who has performed tagging jobs with aplomb this season.

“He’s a pretty hard player to play against,” Butters said.

“Whether he comes to me or Hornet (Jason Horne-Francis) or Connor (Rozee), I feel like there’s a few in there he could go to at different stages.

“As a team we ... have looked at that already and that’s something that we’ll be expecting so if they choose to do that, we’ll be ready.”

Butters’ output dropped amid close tagging earlier in the season but said he was now better equipped to cope after advice from Brisbane’s dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale, arguably the most tagged player in the competition.

“To see Lachie Neale deal with it again on the weekend, he’s the one I’ve looked up to throughout the year and probably the last three or four years - he deals with it most weeks more than most,” Butters said.

“I have had a few little chats with him over time and he’s given me some good advice.

“So I feel like I’ve got some good plans in place and some good people in my corner to help me out.

“But at the end of the day it’s up to me to beat them and for me to go there and compete and fight hard and help my team win.”

- With AAP