The Power has named a 34-man squad, but coach Matthew Primus says the club has to juggle player fitness issues and the following week’s long trip to Western Australia before deciding on how much game time players get on Sunday.
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“We’ve named 34, but there’ll be a couple we’ll make some calls on,” Primus said.
“We’re not super keen to push guys out there that we don’t think are right, and take risks with them. We’ve got a trip to Mandurah next week. That’s a plane trip and a bus trip down there. We’ve got to weigh up how important it is for guys to play this week or can they back up and play next week?”
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Selectors will have to determine which players compete in both of Sunday’s games, how much game time they get and who will be rested from either clash.
“There’s two games Sunday and a big training too next week, so we’ve got an eye on that,” Primus said.
“We’ll take between 26 and 28 over to the West the week after so we’ll have a good look at that. We have to balance that out.”
Missing from Sunday’s squad are ruckman Brent Renouf and mid-fielder Matt Thomas who are being given an extra week off, putting them in position to play West Coast the following week.
Also out of the opening round are Brett Ebert and Jasper Pittard, who are both nursing leg tightness.
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Ebert’s cousin Brad will certainly be in the action on Sunday, along with fellow recruit John McCarthy.
“They’ve fitted in terrifically well,” Primus said of the former West Coast and Collingwood players.
“They’ve added to our depth and to our age group and experience. They’re fit and ready to go and set their mark, too, about how they want to go about their footy. Brad’s played a lot of footy. John hasn’t. They’ve both got different things they want to achieve out of it, but they’re up and about and looking forward to playing in the Port jumper.”
Fellow recruits Brendon Ah Chee, Nathan Blee and Darren Pfeiffer are also in the squad.
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Primus says the first two rounds of the NAB Cup will be about adding to the players’ fitness.
“Just getting game fitness into guys is the main thing,” he said.
“NAB weeks three and four we’ll be narrowing it down and getting more and more serious. Obviously NAB 4 we get to play the normal rules of what the AFL season is. So that will be a real good hit-out for us, but it’s just trying to manage the whole group and make sure they’ve all got a fair bit of game time under the belt and we’re as prepared as we can be individually and as a group come Round One.”
Fine tuning positions is also on the agenda, as Port Adelaide plots its direction with a deeper pool of midfield talent.
“Experimenting is still on,” Primus said.
“We’ve got a pretty healthy list. We want to have a look at guys in different situations. We’ve got some rookies to have a look at with the ability to upgrade one and then we get another chance to do that in the middle of the year. There’s some jostling for positions as well. We want to give the players a good chance to put their hand up and show us where they’re at.”
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Primus says that doesn’t take away from the hunger to experience success in the opening rounds of the pre-season competition, but the club has other goals.
“We’d love to win them,” he said.
“But it is all about managing the guys, giving them a real good hit-out. The intensity steps up from the scratch matches we’ve been playing and the rules make it a pretty quick game. It’s just another step in their game fitness and their preparation and also as a team.
“What we want to do when we’ve got the footy and what we’ve got to do when we don’t. So if we get that right, we’ll be thereabouts. We just want to see a competitive effort whether it’s NAB one, NAB four or Round 15. We just want to see that every time we step on the park. And this weekend is our first chance to do that.”
The AFL will decide on Sunday whether to enact its heat policy in forecast 36-degree conditions, slightly reducing the length of the scheduled 20-minute halves and increasing the number of substitute players from two to six.
