PORT Adelaide has a very short list of prospective recruiting targets, but it will bypass Wednesday's mid-season draft should those State league players be called by the seven AFL clubs with earlier picks.
And if any player is called to Alberton on Wednesday evening, it will be with a long-term view to list management not as an answer to just an immediate need this season.
"We won't participate in the mid-season draft unless the players we have identified get through to our pick," Port Adelaide football chief Chris Davies said at Alberton on Monday.
Port Adelaide opened a berth on its AFL list by placing young defender Jake Pasini on the inactive list after he suffered a long-term knee injury this month.
Calling before Port Adelaide on Wednesday evening are West Coast, North Melbourne, Essendon, Adelaide, Greater Western Sydney, Hawthorn and Gold Coast.
"The reality is, it has to be a thin (draft) field because most of the players who have talent and who are performing have already made it to AFL lists through the national drafts (in November-December)," Davies said.
"We have some names that we might look at if they get through to our pick. We would certainly participate then, but we are not going to pick someone right now who is only going to strengthen our SANFL team from a 'now' perspective.
"We need to take a longer-term view. If we bring someone in, they need to be coming in for two or three years in the first instance to give them an opportunity to actually play AFL for Port Adelaide.
"But the reality of the mid-season draft is there are not many players who would come in and have an impact straight away. There will be one or two. But most clubs would be looking at players with a long-term view."
Port Adelaide is not seeing an immediate need in any particular zone - midfield, attack or defence.
"(List manager) Jason Cripps and (recruiting manager) Geoff Parker have identified players in each area of the ground," Davies said. "A lot of it will depend on whether those two-three players get through to our pick.
"There are clubs ahead of us that probably will be looking at the same player. We are hopeful someone does fall into our pick. If they don't, we won’t participate."
Port Adelaide will have one selection at the mid-season draft after adding injured defender Jake Pasini to the inactive list.
Port Adelaide enters the mid-season break in 11th spot and with a 5-6 win-loss record after a damaging 0-5 start. The mid-season preparations for the remaining 11 home-and-away games have created a heavy agenda at Alberton to achieve a top-eight finals berth in September.
Davies spoke on far-ranging issues on Monday with this snapshot on the key agenda items:
REVIEW of the first 11 games: "It has been a tale of two halves of the first half of the season. Our first five games were disappointing. Clearly, we were able to turn that around but we also acknowledge we are still not playing as well as we would like.
"The break has come at a good time to say, 'We need to recalibrate where we are at; our coaches need to make sure they are looking at what is going to take us forward and win big games of footy," added Davies with Port Adelaide resuming on Thursday week in a major test against Richmond at the MCG.
INJURIES exposing weak points on the list: "When you lose your key players (All-Australians Charlie Dixon in attack and Aliir Aliir in defence) and not have Orazio Fantasia in the team, you can't replace those players over a significant time," said Davies referring to Dixon and Aliir both needing ankle surgery this year.
"You will see other teams go through that now. Losing key players by injury will have team performance inevitably impacted in some capacity. Our performance was, but we still expected to win some of those games that we lost. Our coaches know - and our players know - that we put ourselves behind the eight ball.
"We have a real challenge right now to take the group forward, but also to start playing better footy. We got through the Essendon game through will and having a lead early, but we know we did not play as well as we could."
PROGRAM'S STRENGTH after the 0-5 start: "The coaches have done a very good job in keeping the group together. They could have splintered at 0-5.
"At 0-5, (senior coach) Ken Hinkley had to deliver a way forward. It was really important for us to remain connected as a group. Ken's experiences certainly put us in a good position to work through that great challenge of rebounding from 0-5. We knew the tide would turn if we get the group together.
"Ken was really level headed and we got through.
"Port Adelaide's performance during those first five weeks was significantly away from where everyone expected, including us. We had to hang in through that period and the coaches did a great job in making sure the players still believed in what we were doing.
"So now we are in a position (at 5-6) where at least we can have a challenge for the finals, but in the next three-four weeks we will be playing some reasonable teams that are also placed around us on the AFL ladder. Time will tell, but they have done a pretty good job to get us back to this point.
"But we wish we were not in that position in the first five weeks."
PROSPECTS for the second half of the season: "We have good players who are not playing at the level we want - and who will need to be better if we are going to be a legitimate contender at the back end of the season.
"The players are well aware of the expectations. The challenge is for them to work out what will make them a good player. Our coaches have to create the environment where the players get better in their training - and that needs to transfer into games.
"We have not seen some of that training form in games - and we are going to need to see more of it if we are going to be any good at the back end of the season.."
MIDFIELD evolution: "There is no doubt that Connor Rozee has taken some steps forward. Zak Butters would say there is still some growth in what he does. It is nice for those guys to have Ollie Wines and Travis Boak around them to help them through.
"(Ruckman) Sam Hayes has had a good go at it (in the absence of Scott Lycett) - and that changes the dynamics of the midfield mix. They have taken steps forward but we are going to need more steps forward; we need all those guys to play better.
"We have guys in the SANFL who need to be better as well - Jackson Mead, Miles Bergman, Xavier Duursma. We need those guys to be playing better footy in order to have some selection pressure. Our reality right now is that is not the case and we need to reflect on how we can get those guys playing better footy so that they put pressure on those currently in the AFL side.
"Our team in the longer term is going to be better with those names - Mead, Bergman, Duursma - playing AFL. Right now, the reality is they don't deserve to be playing AFL."
NEW-LOOK ATTACK with the return of Charlie Dixon and the challenge of working four tall forwards: "The coaches believe we can play four. Weather played a part in selection last week. We have four good tallish forwards (Dixon, Todd Marshall, Jeremy Finlayson and Mitch Georgiades) who we have to get the most out of.
"That might lead to only three being able to play and there is selection pressure each week. We have to make sure we are functioning as a forward line. Charlie's return changed the dynamics and ultimately Todd Marshall should be able to benefit from having Charlie there and his taking the opposition's best defender.
"Todd has certainly grown. But we are going to have to continue to look at the mix because we would like more from our high forwards."
KARL AMON contract while the wingman considers free-agency options: "We were speaking pre-season and Karl and the club put talks on ice after he went through that patch of (poor) form. I imagine we will restart negotiations at some point during the back end of the season.
"These things tend to take care of themselves. There is no doubt that Karl is invested in this club. You have seen across the past fortnight how much of a leader among the Aboriginal players he is at this club. We are keen to keep Karl, but we also know the environment of free agency means he has an opportunity to explore those options. You cannot begrudge that."
