It will be Impey’s first game since Round 19 when he played against Carlton and he replaces Cameron O’Shea as the Power’s only change for the crucial clash against Freo.
O’Shea’s omission is purely in the interests of “team balance” according to Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley, with Fremantle set to again name a smaller line-up.
If Port Adelaide defeats Fremantle on Saturday, it will book an away qualifying final appearance, most likely against the Sydney Swans.
The last time Impey played Fremantle he held their goalsneak Hayden Ballantyne to just one behind and nine touches, but Port’s only defensive pocket rocket could find himself up against a different opponent on the day.
“Jarman has a role to play for the team on a number of their smalls, not just your Ballantynes ... and Jarman has played very well in the SANFL, especially against Norwood on [Simon] Phillips who’s a very good forward at that level,” Hinkley told portadelaidefc.com.au.
“Cam certainly doesn’t come out of our side on the basis of form, but we’ve got quite a few tall backs and we obviously need to make a change for team balance - we can’t have too many defenders.
“I spoke to him about that [on Thursday] and he understands that.”
Fremantle could be without a number of players, with Nat Fyfe (suspension), Michael Barlow and Luke McPharlin (injury) to miss the game, while power forward and skipper Matthew Pavlich also remains in doubt.
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Irrespective of Fremantle’s line-up, Hinkley says the Power’s best performance will be required to secure the result.v “Fremantle are in really good form, a grand finalist last year and everyone knows they play that ground incredibly well,” Hinkley said.
“I went over [to Patersons] to see them defeat Hawthorn and also lose to Geelong [at Simonds Stadium] on what was basically their last kick.
“They’ll be very, very good and we’ll need to be at our very, very best.”
Port Adelaide plays Fremantle at 1:10pm (AWST)/2:40pm (ACST) with a live broadcast into Adelaide on Channel 7 and Fox Sports 3.
Port Adelaide Round 23 team v Fremantle
FB: Jackson Trengove, Alipate Carlile, Tom Jonas
HB: Matthew Broadbent, Jack Hombsch, Jasper Pittard
C: Kane Cornes, Ollie Wines, Hamish Hartlett
HF: Robbie Gray, Justin Westhoff, Angus Monfries
FF: Jake Neade, Jay Schulz, Chad Wingard
Foll: Matthew Lobbe, Travis Boak, Brad Ebert
Interchange: Matt White, Jared Polec, Jarman Impey, Andrew Moore
Emergencies: Cam O’Shea, Kane Mitchell, Ben Newton
In: Impey
Out: O’Shea (omitted)
Milestones: Alipate Carlile – 150 games (all with Port Adelaide)
