TO play AFL ... or to not play at all?

All-Australian key forward Charlie Dixon is back in action, Orazio Fantasia is ready to play again and the new tandem of three tall forwards is firing.

Port Adelaide forwards coach Nathan Bassett is moving from famine to feast with the tantalising options to consider at match committee meetings at Alberton. Dixon, Fantasia, Robbie Gray, the triple treat of Todd Marshall, Mitch Georgiades and Jeremy Finlayson, Sam Powell-Pepper and the transit men from the midfield such as Zak Butters, Travis Boak, Connor Rozee ...

"More good players always is a good headache," Bassett said at Alberton on Monday. "We will work it out as we go. 

"Put it back two weeks (when the injury list was stacked with forwards) it was a different sort of headache. I much prefer this one."

The headaches do come from all angles at times. Port Adelaide's dilemma this weekend is the football fixture - the AFL team is at Hobart on Saturday afternoon and the SANFL unit is on the bye.

"(No SANFL game) certainly impacts (at selection)," Bassett said. "The SANFL bye is not ideal for Dixon and Fantasia. But we get a full training week (into them) and we will have a look at them later in the week.

"(If they are not selected for AFL) they will have an extended session along with the guys who do not go to Tasmania."

Dixon made his return from two rounds of ankle surgery playing 18 minutes in each quarter of the Port Adelaide SANFL home clash with State league premier Woodville-West Torrens at Alberton Oval. He finished his comeback match with 11 disposals (eight kicks, three handpasses), two marks and 1.1 on the scoreboard that recorded just seven goals for Port Adelaide.

"It was good for him to be out there," Bassett said of Dixon. "It wasn't a game where the ball moved too free-flowingly, given the (wintry) conditions. He is probably a little off his usual movement ... whether it is good enough (for AFL) this week we will find out as the week goes on."

Post-match - his first since mid-September last year - Dixon is "moving okay ... and feeling okay," says Bassett. "Things are always a bit sorer when you lose (as Port Adelaide did in the SANFL). But he is going okay.

"He can (play AFL this weekend) ... it is just whether he will or not."

Fantasia is trapped in the same fixture shortfall. The opportunist forward has completed his rehabilitation from knee surgery and "caught up" on a pre-season program that has kept him running on Alberton Oval for weeks.

"Orazio has done a bit more than Charlie in terms of running volume," Bassett said. "We have put him through something of a mini pre-season because of the amount of training that he had missed. He is pretty close to being ready to go (when) it felt like he was never going to play again.

"It is nice the speed he has been able to get back this time after plenty of interruptions during the off-season. It is good to get him back and moving well. And it will be nice to see him play again.

"It is unlikely we would select him in the 22 this week but he is available."

How Port Adelaide fits Dixon, Marshall, Georgiades and Finlayson in attack is an intriguing theme - and Dixon's absence from the first two months of the AFL home-and-away season has brought out the best in Marshall, who achieved a career-best count of four contested marks on Friday night at Adelaide Oval against the Western Bulldogs. He also has bags of five goals in two games this season, including the recent derby.

"There always is opportunity when there is a crisis," said Bassett of the silver lining found during Dixon's absence. "Certainly when you lose your first five games there is a crisis. But we have seen in that fifth game that Connor Rozee went into the midfield and made it his. Todd gets an opportunity, a couple of opportunities to shine in the forward line and he has taken that chance. He now has to run with it. 

"(Four talls) is certainly possible," Bassett added. "It is just around having enough legs in the forward line that we can get up the ground to still support our team defence. That is something we will look at, depending on Charlie's fitness and other players we have in the forward line.

"(This week) there are the conditions (at Hobart) to consider along with how many talls we can carry. The good thing is, Charlie is back - up and going - and Orazio is coming back. We have Jeremy and Todd playing strong games and Georgiades is having shots on goal. There are a lot of good signs.

"(Of the midfielders who move forward rather than to the bench) we are balancing (their roles) with them playing more forward-mid. Zak Butters has spent plenty of time around the ball but his form is down a little bit on Friday night. He was good the week before (against St Kilda in Cairns). But he was pretty ill the week before that. Sometimes there is a bit of lag to how you are feeling and how many contests you get too."

Marshall has gained the most during Dixon's absence, advancing from a player who was in everyone's sights when he managed just four disposals in each of his first two games. And Bassett thinks there is even more to come from Marshall if he develops an even stronger desire to command the ball.

"I really like how Todd is starting to take ownership of the forward line and put himself in more contests," Bassett said. "He has been too polite. A bit like when he did not take the advantage in the second quarter by giving the ball back to Ollie Wines. 

"Too polite ... Be the man! Go win the contest and get the ball.

"Todd is such a nice team player that he forgets he needs to put himself in the contest. I have been rapt for Todd for the past month or so in how he has been performing. We want to turn it into something that is sustainable for him." 

Of the big four, Georgiades is the most interesting option for play outside the forward-50 arc.

"Mitch is a third-year player who did not play the year he got drafted," notes Bassett. "He is still very much early in his development phase. He has the legs to get up and down the ground. He does do that to his advantage. It is about developing more of his whole game.

"We are doing that with Lachie Jones at the moment, developing (the half-back) into the midfield when he plays SANFL. We then get a chance to develop Lachie's whole game. Mitch needs to do that as well to be more effective higher up the ground. He certainly has the ability and he gets little moments of it during games where he does that well."

More pressing on Georgiades' agenda is his once-reliable goalkicking with his routine now out of tune, despite his noted dedication to his goalkicking. His 0.4 against the Western Bulldogs highlighted the issue.

"There are a few things within his routine," Bassett said. "He lacked momentum on Friday night - his walk was a little bit slower. It begins technical and then starts to get into the head space. Things will work themselves out in the wash.

"Mitch is meant to be our leading goalscorer so far on the shots he has got. Todd Marshall is off the charts with accuracy and Mitch is off the charts in terms of inaccuracy ..."
Port Adelaide will return to Hobart for the first time since May 4, 2013 when senior assistant coach Alan Richardson stepped up to cover the ill Ken Hinkley for the clash with North Melbourne at Bellerive Oval.   

Defender Riley Bonner (rolled ankle) is most likely to miss. 

"It is not a broken ankle ... and there is no syndesmosis; it is a standard sprain," Bassett said. "I imagine he is unlikely to play this week."

Port Adelaide will seek to bring its win-loss ledger closer to parity with a win against North Melbourne offering a 4-5 count.

"We have been really consistent as a footy club - even through the tough times - with the players being really upbeat and positive about what we are working on," Bassett said.

"Now we are starting to get some reward for that. The reality of our 0-5 start is that it doe snot give us any opportunity to take a breath. We have to keep playing strong footy each week ... we have to keep winning."