PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley is expecting fireworks in the middle when his side meets Melbourne on Friday night and says the ruck battle between Max Gawn and Paddy Ryder alone is worth the price of admission.
Prior to their bye, the Demons were one of the form sides in the competition, winning six games in a row before a loss to Collingwood.
The Power has won its last two and four of the last five after improving its work in the contest.
“It’s a big game, it’s a Friday night game, it’s two teams who are level on points on the ladder who are obviously both striving to finish as high as we can,” Hinkley said at a press conference on Thursday.
“Both play a similar brand, play a pretty contested style of football, so it’ll be a pretty fierce contest, I have no doubt about that and the team that can hang there for the longest will probably end up in front.
“I just hope that’s us.”
The midfield match-up shapes to be the most enticing prospect with the Power’s Ollie Wines, Sam Powell-Pepper, Tom Rockliff and Brad Ebert to do battle with Melbourne’s Jack Viney, Nathan Jones and Clayton Oliver.
“They’re strong, their contested ball stuff is outstanding inside, and they’ve got some dangers in their front half with Hogan and McDonald kicking goals, running
“They’re a ready team – I’ll call them a ready team – and they play some high-level football.
“There’ll be some fireworks out there early.
“You wouldn’t want to get caught between two or three people going for the ball because it would be a dangerous spot to tread.”
Another dangerous weapon for the Demons is ruckman Max Gawn who has been dominant around the ground and leads the AFL for hit-outs.
Hinkley said the way to counter him was to employ his own big man, All-Australian Paddy Ryder.
“We raise your Max Gawn with a Paddy Ryder type-scenario,” he said.
“It’s going to be a great battle
“They’re two outstanding rucks - Max is just a great player and Paddy’s in pretty good nick at the moment - so it’s going to be something people will want to come and have a look at.
“If you’re coming for something, come and watch Max and Paddy go at it and I reckon the winner’s probably going to have a pretty big impact.”
Hinkley said the Power would make one change to the side which beat the Western Bulldogs last week with key defender Tom Jonas to return after a week on the sidelines with a hamstring complaint.
Jack Hombsch will make way, while there’s no room for former Demons Jack Trengove and Jack Watts to face their former side for the first time.
“Jack Trengove has been in great form all year and is just waiting for an opportunity with our midfield group being pretty strong and Jack Watts, you probably need to give them a bit of time,” Hinkley said.
“Jack (Watts) played really well last week, it’s probably the best game I think he’s played for the season almost in some crucial areas – the contest and his ball use, which was really elite.”
Darcy Byrne-Jones has also been cleared to play despite being under an injury cloud with a hamstring complaint of his own.
Hinkley also praised the decision of vice-captain Ollie Wines to re-sign with the club for four years.
He said much of it came down to the culture around the club which gave him and others at Alberton a sense of pride.
“Culturally we’ve got a group that likes to hang around and stay together,” he said.
“Ollie leads that charge now and he’s certainly promoted that more for us as a football club so we certainly couldn’t be more pleased.
“We work really hard every day to embrace not just the player, but the family and we make this feel like a home away from home for the
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