PORT Adelaide star Robbie Gray insists he's shaken off a niggling groin injury and is back to his best in a new attacking role ahead of Saturday night's Showdown with Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.
Gray had a limited pre-season and was quiet in the Power's season-opener with Sydney, finishing with just eight touches.
But he was back to the imperious form that has made him a three-time club champion at the Power with six goals and 30 possessions in his side's 89-point thumping of Fremantle last weekend.
Gray, 29, missed the Power's intra-club trial and two of their three JLT Community Series games, playing only one half of football against Richmond at Mount Gambier before facing the Swans at the SCG.
"I was a little bit sore in the groin throughout pre-season, but I'm feeling fine now," Gray told AFL.com.au.
"I've been able to get a lot of training under my belt and there are no worries at the moment.
"I had to back off my training a little bit then build it back up, so I feel like I'm in a good position going forward."
Gray has played predominately as a forward in the Power's two games this season.
The addition of rookie sensation Sam Powell-Pepper to a midfield group already including Ollie Wines, Brad Ebert and Travis Boak has allowed Gray to play more in attack.
"It's probably a little bit of a different role [to that] I've played the last few years, being down forward," Gray said.
"It's a role I really enjoy and it's all going well so far.
"The midfield have done a tremendous job over the first couple of games."
Gray spent a lot of time in attack during his under-18s days with the Oakleigh Chargers more than a decade ago.
He's also been used in the forward line at the Power, but not as constantly as he has this year.
Gray has booted 217 goals in his 157 games for the Power at an average of 1.4 per game.
Ebert said having Gray stationed deep inside the forward 50 presented a match-up nightmare for opposition backlines.
"You can really kick to a one on one knowing Robbie's ability at ground level and in the air is second to none," Ebert said.
"You can kick it to him knowing he's at least going to halve the ball and more times than not he's going to win it.
"When you've got a guy with that sort of class down there, as well as Charlie Dixon and the other guys who roll through there, it really adds that different dimension to the forward line."
Former Power ruckman Brendon Lade has had an impact in restructuring the club's attack as its new forwards coach.
"We've worked really hard as a whole forward line to understand each other and understand our roles and what (Lade) wants us to do down there," Gray said.
"We've seen some good results over the first few weeks, but there is still plenty of work to do going forward."
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This story originally appeared on afl.com.au
