Port Adelaide Assistant coach Tyson Goldsack says he knew draftee Joe Berry would play at AFL level early in 2025 from the moment he got to Alberton.

The club has confirmed first-round draftee Berry will make his AFL debut at the MCG against Collingwood on Saturday night.

Fellow forwards Joe Richards and Jack Lukosius will also play their first games for the Power.

Speaking on Friday before the side flew to Melbourne, Goldsack said the debuts had brought real excitement to the club and the recruitment of all three players had seen the side change the way it moves the ball.

The backline coach also discussed Jeremy Finlayson’s move into defence, whether former player Dan Houston would get any extra attention and what he expects from Collingwood on Saturday night. 

Tyson Goldsack on the excitement around Joe Berry making his AFL debut:

“From the moment he walked in, I had that feel about him playing early. He just kind of reads the play well, (he’s an) incredible athlete, an endurance athlete, so just a great kid. It's exciting for him, for his family and for us.”

Tyson Goldsack on the side’s new-look forward line with Joe Berry, Joe Richards and Jack Lukosius included:

“Three new faces and different players to what we had from previous years. I think they'll work well together. They have all summer. It kind of allows us to change up our ball movement a little bit, and play to their strengths, which we've spoken about over the last few weeks. It's been good for us. Sometimes it doesn't work, but more times than not, we think they'll give us what we need, and hopefully they have a good game on Saturday night.”

Tyson Goldsack on Jeremy Finlayson’s recent shift into the backline:

“Obviously, a couple of injuries have made us make some changes. But in saying that, you know, having Jeremy down there, and what he's been able to do in only a couple of games has been pretty remarkable. He is a very natural forward. We know that, we've seen that. He played a little bit of defensive time at GWS (but) that was a long time ago.

“Just the way he's kind of taken to being a backline player, he’s slotted in nicely with our backline and what we're about, what we're trying to achieve.

“He was maybe going through a little patch in pre-season where (he was) just not sure how he was fitting into our forward line. He was doing a lot of ruck time through the pre-season because we had two rucks here injured, so maybe he was a bit lost. And then when this opportunity came up, he grabbed it with both hands, and this is the first real game of doing it so let's just keep our powder dry there a little bit. But, I'm confident that he'll do what we’ve asked him to do, and he's a pretty proud player in the way goes about it.”

Tyson Goldsack on whether there’ll be any extra attention on former Power player Dan Houston:

“None, more than anyone else. He won't get attention because he's Dan Houston. He'll get attention because he's a pretty good player, and we know that. We know what he likes to do, and how he gets the best footy out himself. So, we'll, no doubt, try and take away his strengths, as we will for Brayden Maynard, or Josh Dacios, who was there last week. So, it's not about the player or the name of the player, but the fact that they're wearing a Collingwood jumper.”

Tyson Goldsack on how Jack Lukosius will fit into the forward line:

“He can move, you know, so him and George (Mitch Georgiades) being able to either play deep or play higher, you throw Willie Rioli into the mix who can play deep and be pretty damaging. So, there's combinations there that you can change as the game plays out, which is probably not what we've had in spades over the last few years. That's probably the most exciting thing about our forward line.”

Tyson Goldsack on criticism of Collingwood’s fitness after last week’s loss to Greater Western Sydney:

“I'm careful to on how I answer this. Maybe they weren't at their best, because we know their best is very good, and we know that they'll bring a lot to the game on Saturday night back at their home, big crowd no doubt. We know they play well at the G so even if they weren't at their best on the weekend, we know that they will be at their best this weekend, so there's still a lot of quality they have running around, and we can't wait for the challenger.”

Tyson Goldsack on what Richmond’s win over Carlton on Thursday night says about the AFL competition:

“It says it's pretty tight, doesn't it? It says that you have to be ready every game. I think that's probably the biggest thing for us. You know, you go into a game under prepared or underestimating your opponents, and you're going to pay the price. We know that it's been that way for the last couple of years, all bar a couple of teams, but now it's showing that it's the whole 18 teams. It's a pretty remarkable start for Richmond, and good on them, and we'll play them next week. Ken was over there yesterday watching them to see how they went about it. (But), let's get through this game first, and then we'll tackle Richmond next week.”

Tyson Goldsack on whether the side feels fresh and like a blank canvas to work with:

“Not really. I think our what we believe in, our DNA is still there. How we move the footy potentially has changed to adapt to our new forward line, but a lot of things have stayed pretty similar. We weren't a bad team last year, so (we) don't want to change too much. I mean, I would have changed the result for the prelim there sure, but the rest of the year, we play some pretty consistent football, and I think we can still do that with a couple of little adjustments here and there.”