McCarthy, Schulz in squad of 25


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Port Adelaide forward Jay Schulz has been named in the Power’s side to take on Hawthorn after recovering from bruised ribs suffered in last week’s victory over Carlton.

Schulz is in a 25-man squad, along with John McCarthy who returns to the team to replace Travis Boak who has undergone foot surgery and will be out of action for about four weeks.

Boak is the only player out of the side that defeated the Blues, with Cameron Hitchcock, Tom Logan and Aaron Young named on an extended interchange bench.

Port Adelaide will finalise its team on Friday afternoon, ahead of chasing four wins in a row for the first time since 2007.



Forward coach Garry Hocking said Schulz trained on Thursday, despite being substituted out of last Saturday’s game and being assessed in hospital.

“He trained today and says he’s right to play,” Hocking said.

Hocking said McCarthy - who was a late withdrawal last week due to a corked calf - was a logical replacement for Boak.

“Boaky’s a quality midfielder who’s been pretty good form in the past couple of weeks. He’s had some tags which obviously takes pressure off other midfielders like Broadbent and Ebert.

“Having him out might say a tag could go to one of those less experienced guys if they want to tag, but we don’t know if they will.”

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The Power has again named Brent Renouf and Jarrad Redden after debuting the ruck tandem last week.

“I think it’s important,” Hocking said.

“It worked last week. Both of those guys can play forward. They showed that last week against Carlton, both guys had some sort of influence forward.”

After missing two weeks at AFL level with a hip concern, John Butcher has been named to play with the Magpies against South Adelaide on Saturday afternoon.

Hitchcock has recovered from a hamstring strain suffered early in the Round 6 clash with Richmond, and could provide the Power with speed to balance the likes of Cyril Rioli and Paul Puopolo.

“He’s recovered from his hammy,” Hocking said.

“Our guys have really conditioned him well. We’ve found that over a period of time they’re able to come back in. He’s missed three or four weeks, but he’ll take up the slack pretty well.”

Logan is in contention for promotion following consistent efforts with Glenelg.

“He’s been in really good form in the SANFL playing half-back and on ball,” Hocking said.

“It gives you someone who could play on ball. He could give you forward pressure or could play down back on a couple of their smalls. He gives us flexibility in the side. He gives us toughness.”

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Young injured an ankle in the Round 7 clash with Fremantle, but has fully recovered.

“He does everything right,” Hocking said.

“He gets his own ball, he’s tough, he’s a good decision maker. We like him around the forward line and with a quick hit-up on ball as well. He’s shown with his body he can handle the rigours of AFL football. So he’s another one who can give us a little bit of outside as well as inside toughness.”

The Hawks are coming off a massive win over North Melbourne, in which Lance “Buddy” Franklin kicked 13 goals.

This week’s visitors present the rejuvenated Power with its biggest test yet, following successive victories over North Melbourne, Gold Coast and Carlton.

“They’re an outstanding side with elite players,” Hocking said.

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“We’ve just got to make sure that we maintain the heat, our presence on the footy and our intensity like we did against Carlton.

It’s a really good opportunity, hopefully in front of a big crowd, that we get to play exactly the same, bring the same intensity and tempo as we did against Carlton and we’ll certainly be in the game.”

Port Adelaide and Hawthorn meet at AAMI Stadium from 4.10pm on Sunday.