CHARLIE DIXON will be the headline act as Port Adelaide prepares to go for consecutive wins when it takes on reigning premier Woodville-West Torrens at Alberton on Saturday.
Dixon has not played this season after requiring two lots of surgery since suffering an ankle injury at training in January, but will take an important step forward in his return to action when he fronts up against the Eagles.
The last time Dixon returned from injury with the Magpies - in 2019 after 299 days out of the game thanks to a severely broken leg suffered at the end of the 2018 season - he bagged five goals in front of a raucous Alberton crowd.
Joining the star forward is Dante Vistenini, who missed last week through health and safety protocols and Miller Carter and Ethan Moore.
Sam Mayes, Jackson Mead and Anthony Wilson will miss through health and safety protocols, but coach Matthew Lokan is looking forward to the challenge, having overcome the Eagles’ opponent in last year’s grand final last week in a thrilling contest with Glenelg.
“It's a big challenge, we've had the best sides in two weeks and Saturday here at Alberton is going to be a big test for us,” he said.
“They're really strong stoppage team...they're the best in the competition of being able to restrict sides from scoring from stoppage, but also they score heavily from stoppage themselves.
“We know that the game, like most weeks, is going to be won in and around the ball and we need to make sure that we arrive on our game to be able to nullify them in that area.”
The Magpies stunned the Eagles at Alberton last year by 10 goals, where they blew the eventual premier away in a sensational second term.
However the situation is different entering this weekend, with the Magpies sitting with a 1-4 record and Lokan is eager to see a similar effort from last week’s win over the Tigers.
“Winning obviously helps [around the club], we've been building towards playing some consistent four-quarter footy and to be able to do that against the Tigers at Glenelg was really important in the context of our season,” he said.
“We know that we've needed to back it up for multiple weeks now and the test doesn't get any easier against the Eagles.”
The first bounce is at 2.10pm on Saturday.
