PORT ADELAIDE ruckman Scott Lycett is predicting healthy competition for selection among the ruck group, come Round 1.

Lycett experienced a frustrating 2022 after a serious shoulder injury in April, followed by multiple surgeries and infection.

Now fully recovered and deep into pre-season training, the 203-centimetre big man is working hard to cement his spot.

Lycett on the ruck group:
“Definitely I think having competition for spots is only beneficial for the team. You look at the best teams and there are guys absolutely knocking the door down and they can't get a game.

“(Brynn Teakle) is pushing at training and young (Sam) Hayesy and Dante (Visentini) are pushing me as well so it’s definitely good for the club. Those guys are all pretty young and I'm probably the only older one so they're definitely going to be trying to come for that spot.

“If you've got blokes vying for spots (and if) someone's training better than you, then obviously you've got to pick that person. I've been playing footy for now – going into my 13th year – so I've seen plenty of spots being taken. All you need to do is go out there and train well and give yourself the best chance.”

Lycett on his shoulder:
“(My shoulder is feeling) strong. It's good, really good. I'm out there doing full-on contested drills so I’m ready to go. I've had three reconstructions now and all three of them have been infected so (if I ever had to have surgery again), I've got a bit of a plan in place to hopefully try and avoid that.”

Lycett on Jeremy Finlayson in the ruck:
“He's awesome. I love working with Jez. We get along quite well. We've been working together in the same team quite a bit in the pre-season so far. I’m just really looking forward to getting into the proper (trial) games and seeing how we go out there. Even before I was injured, I played a couple of games with (Jeremy) last year and I really rate him. He’s proven that he's gone pretty well in the ruck so I wouldn’t be surprised (if we see) him in there a bit (this season).”

Lycett on the possibility of playing two rucks:
“That will obviously be up to the coaches, how we're performing and how we're going in trial games. I've played in plenty of teams with two rucks and it's worked pretty well so I wouldn’t say no to it. Ultimately that's Kenny (Hinkley) and the coaches' decision.

“I think it just depends on what type of ruckmen you have, whether they can play forward or not, whether they're predominantly a ruckman and might not have the tank to do the two roles. I’m confident that we've got a couple of guys in the team that can do (two roles) so we've been practicing it at training. I guess we will (wait and) see.”

Lycett on individual players:
Orazio Fantasia: “He's had a bit of a modified pre-season. His body has been a bit of a problem the last couple of years so coaches and physios have got together and put together a specialist program for him. He's had a really good pre-season. I think he's been just about one of our best trainers.”

Trent Dumont: “He hurt his calf a couple of weeks ago (but) he's not too far away either I think. He started really well in the pre-season so it's a little bit of a setback but not too bad. He'll (likely) be playing in the trial games.”