PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley says Sunday’s win over West Coast provided an insight into why the club pursued recruits Ivan Soldo, Esava Ratugolea and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher in the off-season.
The trio of club debutants each contributed strongly to the 50-point Round 1 victory, with Soldo a stand-out in ruck.
The former Richmond player had a game-high 28 hit-outs to go with 14 disposals, two tackles and six clearances.
He also contributed on the scoreboard with two goals.
“We had 18 hit-outs to advantage today, which is a significant number for us and that helps,” Hinkley said after the match.
“Next week for Ivan, there'll be another great test against his former side and their captain (Toby Nankervis), who's a great player.
“I think today was a nice sample for him to show that he's got plenty to offer. And the good part is he hit scoreboard and I think that's also really exciting for us that we can use him up front as well as in the ruck.”
Former Essendon defender Zerk-Thatcher looked comfortable in a new-look Port Adelaide back line, finishing with eight marks and 15 disposals, alongside ex-Geelong big man Ratugolea who had 10 disposals and six marks.
Hinkley said each of the new recruits had shown positive signs, demonstrating why the club’s List Manager Jason Cripps sought to recruit them.
“Today was a great starting point for all three boys and it highlighted why Jason went after the boys that we needed,” the coach said.
“They all showed today little bits of helping us get better, I think.
“That's what we looked at through the offseason and we looked at the places where we needed to make some gains, and you know, those three boys certainly added to that in round one. There’s a long way to go but was a nice start by all three.”
There were good signs too from some more familiar types including forward Charlie Dixon, who booted 2.2 from eight disposals in the first quarter and finished with 3.3.
Hinkley revealed Dixon had been managed through pre-season and was still building to full match fitness to ensure the 33-year-old could play as many games as possible in 2024.
The match in front of 34,078 people in hot and sunny conditions at Adelaide Oval was the first time Port Adelaide was led out by new captain Connor Rozee and his vice-captain Zak Butters since the implementation of a new leadership group late last year.
“It wasn't too bad today, it seemed to be okay, I think both delivered,” Hinkley said when asked to assess the performance of his side’s new leaders.
“I think there was something like 27-28 touches and two goals to Connor, one goal to Zak. 14 score involvements for Connor, 12 for Zak. and I thought they went arm in arm as they’ve done the entire time at Port Adelaide.
“They have a long, long way to go on their journey but ultimately, as young leaders, they displayed football form first and then leadership comes along with it so good on them both.”
The only dampener on the occasion was forward Jed McEntee coming off injured in the third term after a collision with an opponent.
McEntee was ruled out with concussion and will proceed through the AFL’s concussion protocols before being able to return to the field.
It means the 23-year-old won’t be available for Sunday’s match against Richmond, which will be Hinkley’s 250th as coach of Port Adelaide.
It will also be the 350th AFL game for former Power captain Travis Boak, making him the first to play 350 AFL games for the club.
