PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley says he won’t rush All-Australian ruckman Patrick Ryder back into his side after the big man suffered an
Ryder sat out the second half of the game at Adelaide Oval but his injury was the only real dampener for the home side, which blew away the Dockers after impressive performances from some new recruits and some young guns.
“(Ryder’s)
“I’d say he’d miss some time for sure.
“Paddy’s got a history of
Hinkley nominated the untried Peter Ladhmans, Billy Frampton and teenage draftee Sam Hayes as potential replacements, but also praised veteran swingman Justin Westhoff for stepping into the ruck duties in Ryder’s absence.
“It’s what you expect, he just turns up and runs for kilometres and kilometres and just keeps turning up,” Hinkley said of the 200-centimetre 31-year-old.
“He’s the most team-care player that we have, he just does what we ask of him and then he ends up in the right spot more often than not.
“He’s a terrific person and that comes out on the footy field as well.”
The Power blew the game open with a six-goals to two third quarter, with young forward Todd Marshall booting three of his four goals in that term.
The 19 year-old, playing just his fourth AFL game, was well supported with
11-gamer Dougal Howard broke the AFL record for most spoils when he recorded his 22nd while recruits Jack Watts (three goals), Steven Motlop (2 goals and 19 disposals) and Dom Barry (22 possessions) were impressive in their club debuts.
Big-name signing Tom Rockliff was quiet in his first hit-out for 2018 with just 12 possessions and a goal, but Hinkley said all of his new faces contributed.
“They added something to us and I thought some of the younger blokes, Dougal and Riley Bonner, Todd Marshall, that was the most pleasing part, it wasn’t just the more experienced players – I thought there was some growth in the others and then you get some consistency out of proven performers like we have,” he said.
“We were questioned at the end of last year for having young players play and we got great recruiters who pick great young players and our opportunity is to put them out there and let them play and hopefully see them grow.”
The Power didn’t have the game all its way, with Hinkley claiming his side was less than perfect defensively, especially late in
“Freo defended us pretty well for large parts of the game so our ability to use the style of play that we want and the system we use now is growing and continuing to grow but it’s round one and we know we’ve got a lot to work on,” he said.
“It was a good strong start to the season where we were playing Freo who were up and about after a good strong pre-season and we knew the dangers in that.
“It was a really hot day out there for the players and to get through with a 50-point win is pleasing.”
