Cassisi was a late withdrawal from the round 10 clash against Fremantle with gastro, but was fully recovered by Monday and has trained strongly this week.
Here’s Power General Manager – Football Operations Peter Rohde’s inside word on this week’s selection…
We’ve only got one change this week with Dom Cassisi returning after a bout of gastro before the Dockers game. He’ll replace Jacob Surjan, who is pretty stiff to miss out.
Paul Stewart came into the team at the last minute last week to replace Dom and did a good job. It came down to a choice between those two guys and we’re pretty keen to give Paul Stewart some opportunities. Surjan’s form certainly hasn’t been bad, but he hasn’t been dominant either so he’s been squeezed out of the team.
Stewie is pretty flexible, he’s quick so he can play on the fast running type players and he’s also got some height, so he can play on the bigger guys too.
We’ve got a pretty strong team with Chad and Wilbur back in – we’re obviously still missing Brett Ebert and Shaun Burgoyne, but hopefully they’ll be back next week and we’ll be at full strength. There is still a couple of the younger guys who are on their way back from injury, but all things going well over the next couple of weeks we should have a full list to choose from.
Hopefully it will create a good dilemma next week with everyone available, but you never know what will happen with injuries. It makes it slightly harder for the younger guys who are looking to get a game, but that’s always been an issue at the good clubs. They’ll just have to work hard to get a game.
The Power’s final 22 to face the Blues, as named at 4.30pm on Friday, is as follows…
B: Michael Pettigrew, Alipate Carlile, Troy Chaplin
HB: Peter Burgoyne, Toby Thurstans, Michael Wilson
C: Domenic Cassisi, Chad Cornes, Kane Cornes
HF: David Rodan, Warren Tredrea, Travis Boak
F: Daniel Motlop, Justin Westhoff, Robbie Gray
Foll: Dean Brogan, Steven Salopek, Danyle Pearce
Interchange: Tom Logan, Brendon Lade, Natthan Krakouer, Paul Stewart
Emergencies: Jacob Surjan, Damon White, Greg Bentley
IN: Cassisi
OUT: Surjan (omitted)
