Online Game Day: Follow Power vs Cats
Salopek, Stewart and Pittard were all named in the Power's 25-man squad on Thursday, but it's unlikely all three will line up against the Cats.
Salopek sat out of the clash with West Coast in round two with a slight hamstring strain, while Stewart and Pittard both sustained minor knee injuries during the 18-point loss.
Daniel Motlop and Hamish Hartlett have been recalled for their first hit-outs of the season and coach Matthew Primus said it was important the club didn't take too many underdone players into the game.
"Paul Stewart's got a bit more of a knock to the knee. Steven Salopek has a hamstring. There wasn't too much damage done to it, but we're not quite sure [whether Salopek will play]," Primus said on Friday.
"With Hamish and Motts coming in for their first games we've got to make sure that our 21 is capable of playing a fair bit of game time."
Motlop and Hartlett will replace injured skipper Dom Cassisi (knee) and small forward Cam Hitchcock, who has been omitted.
Defender Jacob Surjan and third-year midfielder Mitch Banner are on stand-by to replace Stewart and/or Pittard.
Hartlett hasn't played since injuring his quad in round 12 last season.
The injury-prone onballer has played just 15 games since being selected by the Power with pick No.4 in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft.
Primus was hopeful he could have a breakout season in 2011.
"It's terrific for Hamish and he's done a hell of a lot of work since August," Primus said.
"He's going to be rusty and struggle to get into it at times, but hopefully this is the start of a lot of games for him at our club."
Primus questioned his team's work-rate, following the disappointing loss to West Coast at AAMI Stadium last weekend.
The first-year coach accused his midfielders of not running hard enough to get the uncontested ball and assistant coach Jason Cripps went as far as to say there were "passengers" in the team.
Primus said none of his midfielders had displayed great form in the opening two rounds of the season.
"We've [looked] at how Geelong play and what happens if you do (have passengers in your team). We've certainly put on notice as a coaching group that that (their work rate) is what we're looking for," he said.
"We're all about trying to find players and play a style of footy that's going to hold up in big games and eventually in finals footy when that comes around.
"Last week's performance wasn't indicative of that and we'll find out where we're at and where we need to get to on Sunday."
Geelong hasn’t lost a game at Skilled Stadium since Port Adelaide upstaged the eventual premiers by five points in round 21, 2007.
The Cats remain unbeaten after two rounds, but Primus said the winless Power could take confidence in the patches of good football they'd played against Collingwood and West Coast.
"Geelong have had two close games [this season] and either game could've gone either way. We'll head down there in the right frame of mind and see how our attack on the ball and our style [goes] versus theirs," he said.
Katrina Gill covers Port Adelaide news for afl.com.au. Follow her on Twitter: @AFL_KatrinaGill
