PORT ADELAIDE senior coach Ken Hinkley made two changes at the selection table ahead of Saturday night’s important clash with North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium.
Ryan Burton returns from a hamstring injury - suffered in Port’s Round 17 loss to Brisbane - and Zak Butters comes into the side at the expense of mid-season draftee Cam Sutcliffe.
Hinkley says the reward outweighs the risk for Burton, as the senior coach looks to get some AFL football into the running defender before the end of the home-and-away season.
“Burton was in very, very good form before he went out,” Hinkley said at a press conference on Friday morning at Alberton Oval.
“He’s very important to our team. We are getting close to the end of the season, and we need to get some AFL football into him as quickly as we can.
“We weighed up all of the options. We went through all of the challenges with that, and we think Ryan adds too much to our team not to bring him back in.
“We’ve done that a couple of times already this year - with Jonas, with Gray. We value him very highly.”
Hinkley says there shouldn’t be comparisons made between in the inclusion of Burton this weekend and the non-selection of Ollie Wines last week - who was a late in against Sydney - because of how different each of their seasons have been.
“I think it’s very clear,” he said.
“If we break down their timelines and what they look like. Ollie’s season has been far more disruptive - he’s had very little continuity.
“We saw last week, he came in and played really well, but he got a bit of luck - that was a good thing.
“Ryan and Ollie’s scenarios are quite different. We are 100 per cent clear on that, we don’t think there is any grey area in our minds as coaches.
“Ryan has been in ripping nick all the way through, in fact, he was probably in our best five of six in our club B&F before he went out.”
The Power coach isn’t taking too much notice of North Melbourne’s performance against Geelong last week, because he knows how destructive they have been since Rhyce Shaw took over the coach mantle at Arden Street.
“I think what we can take from North Melbourne since Rhyce (Shaw’s) time, is that they’ve been a really, really good side,” Hinkley said.
“They are a really damaging side. I saw them live the week before against Hawthorn, and that’s what I will remember more than the Geelong one.
“The major thing you are seeing is they are really competitive in most parts of the game. The contested side of the game, they are really good.
“They look strong in their shape. They look strong behind the ball. They are moving the ball with some consistency.”
Port will be looking to retain its spot in the top eight when it travels to Marvel Stadium on Saturday night to face the Kangaroos, with the game getting underway at 7.25pm AEST.
