Port Adelaide has its 205th AFL debutant - and the fastest to rise from a draft to national league action.
Fifteen days after 22-year-old, East Fremantle ruckman-forward Brynn Teakle was called to Alberton in the AFL mid-season rookie draft, the 203cm West Australian will lead the Port Adelaide ruck against Sydney - and former Port Adelaide player Peter Ladhams - at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon.
Senior coach Ken Hinkley told the team at training at Alberton Oval on Thursday morning of Teakle's rise to AFL ranks - to mark the fourth ruck theme used by Port Adelaide this season (after Scott Lycett; Sam Hayes and the Jeremy Finlayson-Charlie Dixon tandem).
"It is one of the great stories of the AFL mid-season draft," Hinkley said. "And a good reason to continue with it.
"This is a great story of the mid-season draft. There is no doubt it is beneficial. It works for the AFL competition. I hope it does not hurt the lower competitions too much, but for the boys with their dreams (the draft) gives them an outstanding opportunity.
"We have seen a number of mid-season draftees go on and are still have great careers.
"In my time in football," added Hinkley, who made his AFL debut at Fitzroy in 1987, "I have never seen someone get their first game within 14 days (of arriving at a club). It is a great result. It is a remarkable performance. Brynn has been at our club for 14 days and he is now going to play his first AFL game.
"He has great energy. We've learned in just two weeks how much energy Brynn brings - and he played with great energy at the SANFL level. He will be exciting for us.
"First impressions are usually accurate. Brynn is a really infectious person. He is a really easy to like fellow. The spirit he has brought into the place is timely."
Teakle will start his AFL story wearing the No. 27 black, white and teal jumper. He will ruck with the support of Finlayson, Dixon and Todd Marshall.
"We will have some great flexibility," said Hinkley with Lycett stepping up his training with his return expected in the next month after a long lay-off after shoulder surgery.
Teakle forced Port Adelaide's hand with his three-goal SANFL debut against Central District at Elizabeth Oval on Saturday - and Hinkley's match committee had its arm further twisted by major issues on health, injury and form.
"He also has had solid form in the WAFL," Hinkley said. "His selection allows us to play our forwards (Finlayson and Dixon) as dangerous players as much as we possibly can and score. We are trying to increase our scoring capacity with the players who are available to us at the moment.
"We think this is our best option - and Brynn showed last week that he is a threat as a forward; he kicked three goals. We think this gives us great flexibility to score."
Former captain Travis Boak will for the second time this season miss an AFL match by the COVID protocols.
Matchwinner Robbie Gray will rest after carrying major issues with a knee that was knocked in the season-opener against Brisbane at the Gabba.
North Melbourne recruit Trent Dumont is sidelined by the calf strain suffered against Richmond at the MCG last week.
Half-forward/midfielder Steven Motlop has been dropped on poor recent form.
This creates openings for forward Mitch Georgiades, father-son recruit Jackson Mead and versatile defender Martin Frederick who will be named in the 23-man squad at selection on Thursday evening.
"There is about 900-odd games of experience leaving our side, but we will bring in some young people and some exciting people with Georgiades, Mead, Frederick and Brynn Teakle," Hinkley said.
There is no question on the fitness of captain Tom Jonas and midfielder Zak Butters who clashed heads during the last term of the 12-point loss to Richmond at the MCG. Butters will play with a fractured cheek but no protective guard - and hunger after being kept out of contact drills at training.
"Zak was growling at me because he still has a couple of stitches in his face and thought it was ridiculous that he has to train with the pink hat to mark no contact," said Hinkley. "He thinks it is ridiculous, but we trust the doctor."
Gray, 34, has worked through repetitive injuries - particularly with knocks to his right knee - to play nine AFL games in his 16th consecutive season at Port Adelaide. His numbers this season draw heavy attention to his goalkicking - 10.5 with four games (including the past two against Essendon and Sydney) with no score. He has contributed to seven goals by assisting a team-mate.
"We are giving Rob the best chance to perform at his best when he plays in the next few weeks whenever that may be," Hinkley said. "Even after the bye, Robbie was not at his absolute best. He needs to get some continuity into his game and some training form as well.
"He has tried to play (under duress) in the first 10-12 weeks without training and that is unsustainable, no matter how good you are. We know how great Rob has been.
"We won't put a timeframe on Rob. We will make sure he gets through the next couple of weeks with good training. Robbie will emerge really quickly. He will show us on the training track that he is capable of being Robbie Gray. Once he is capable of that, you won't have this coach holding him out for long.
"He has had that knee issue all year. It is the injury from round one when - after an outstanding pre-season - someone fell across his leg. He has not been able to get over it since then. Everything has been investigated and researched. Whether it did or did not need some surgery, but it came down to rest - and it is a really simple issue. It just does not resolve itself totally leaving Rob to play with some discomfort and it is just getting to a point where non-training and discomfort together are making it too hard to perform at his best."
Mead, 20, returns to AFL action for the first time since the round 5 clash with Carlton at the MCG. His game-day role - in his sixth career match - will involve covering the gaps in attack created by the exit of Gray and Motlop and adding to Port Adelaide's midfield rotations led by Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines, Butters and Connor Rozee.
"I hope Mead gets a good amount of time around the ball; we think he is a developing young midfielder who we are really happy with," Hinkley said. "He is emerging this year and he has a great opportunity this week against another reasonably young midfield at Sydney. He gets the opportunity to go head-to-head with some good players."
Wingman Xavier Duursma will be on Port Adelaide's emergency list this weekend.
"He is working really hard to get his game right and we think we have seen some improvement (in the SANFL)," Hinkley said. "Xavier and Miles Bergman have had disruptions (with their training) - Miles has been incredibly disrupted through the early part of the year which has made it a real challenge as a younger player to emerge.
"Over the past two weeks, Xavier and Jackson Mead have been going better and Miles is still trying to get past a horrendous run when it comes training for a start. He has had two weeks of really good training now, so we expect he will be getting there soon."
The challenge remains for Port Adelaide to lift is 74-point scoring average.
"There have been a few reasons (for the fall in Port Adelaide's year-by-year scoring average that was 84 points last season)," Hinkley said. "Personnel, the way we have played, the places we have played at ... it is not one simple thing, but we think personnel we have this week gives us a great opportunity to improve our scoring.
"Defensively we have been good," added Hinkley. "But we do need to put some scoreboard pressure on, particularly against a side like Sydney which is a great attacking side and have been really strong defensively. Your balance has to be right both ways.
"You can't take your eyes off defence when dealing with a Sydney side that has talent they have in their front half and midfield they certainly will put a score on you."
Port Adelaide is now three wins out of the top eight, but has a game in hand on the eighth-ranked Collingwood (8-5 from 13 matches).
The fixture for the next eight weeks is testing of Port Adelaide's ambitions to play AFL finals for the third consecutive season - five games against current top-eight sides: Sydney (home) this weekend, giant killers Fremantle in Perth in round 16, AFL premier Melbourne in Alice Springs in round 18, Geelong (home) in round 19 and Collingwood at the MCG in round 20. There also are clashes with would-be finalists Gold Coast (home) in round 15 and Richmond (home) in round 21.
"We need to perform consistently week to week," Hinkley said. "That is where we need to keep our focus. Last week, we were right in there against a quality opponent (Richmond).
"Every game coming up super important for us. We understand that. There will come a time when things might be out of our reach - and we'll talk about that then, not now. There is too much for us to gain this week to take our eye off the ball.
"We are invested in winning this week - and we have to stay in that space. It is so important for us."
Port Adelaide will play Sydney for the 33rd time in AFL company - and first time since round 15 last season when it scored a 10-point win at Adelaide Oval.
Port Adelaide has a five-game winning streak against Sydney, the club's best record on a rival that has a 20-12 lead on the head-to-head ledger since 1997.
"We face a very good team," Hinkley said. "But we also have a great record against them - and we hope we can maintain that record against them.
"We understand the challenge they will place on us - a challenge we are more than capable of overcoming. We have a good understanding of how they like to play. It's now whether we can maximise our ability to play the game at our level."
The match at Adelaide Oval begins at 1.15pm and will be dedicated to Port Adelaide's Power Intercultural Program.
