PORT ADELAIDE Coach Ken Hinkley says his side is looking forward to getting back to playing football after a trying week for the club.
In the past few days, Hinkley’s players have had to deal with the death of forward Todd Marshall’s father Robert, the suspension of forward Lindsay Thomas, the findings by the AFL Integrity Department into midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper’s late-night behaviour and a season-ending knee injury to in-form defender Hamish Hartlett.
The Power travels to Melbourne off the back of consecutive losses to Essendon and Geelong to face a North Melbourne side full of confidence after consecutive wins over Carlton and Hawthorn.
“We’ve had a few things not quite go the way we’d like in the last little while but the boys have a job to do tomorrow now and we look forward to getting together and winning a game of footy,” Hinkley said at Adelaide Airport.
“I’m not sure whether (our trying week) can galvanise us, I mean there’s some difficulties in each – Todd’s Dad was obviously so significant for his family and we’re just so sad that that had to happen and Hamish is a bit of a different one in that it’s an accident that happens in football that we have to deal with – but I’m sure the group will do all they can to try give the boys something to smile about.
Hinkley confirmed Hartlett would undergo surgery in the next 24 hours to repair his torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, and then be sidelined for the rest of the campaign.
“Hamish’s form would have been in our best three players this year,” Hinkley said.
“It’s always a blow but when it’s someone who has worked so hard to get himself re-established as the player he wants to be, it’s even a little more difficult I reckon.
“We’re lucky in some sense that we’ve got a number of half backs that are ready to play like even Jasper (Pittard) in a like-for-like kind of replacement, not this week but maybe the week, and if it’s an area that we have got some numbers in support it’s that area but we do miss a leadership player and that’s important for us to remember.”
As well as Hartlett, Thomas and Marshall’s absences, Hinkley’s team selection was made more difficult by Port Adelaide’s SANFL team playing on ANZAC Day, meaning those who played on Wednesday would be unlikely to be able to play on Saturday due to the short turnaround.
The Power mentor said in a tight competition, the Kangaroos present a significant challenge.
“They’re in fantastic form, they’re in third on the ladder and playing some really good football, other than the game in northern Queensland when it was played in water, they’re going to be a real handful for us,” he said.
“They’re playing at home and we’re going to have to meet them head on.”
He singled out stopping the ball getting to Coleman Medal-leading forward Ben Brown as key to beating North.
“I think you’ve got to put pressure on up the field and if you let Ben run at the ball he’s in the top two or three, maybe the top one or two in the competition – he’s in fantastic form,” Hinkley said.
“There’s a real challenge for our group as backs to get the job done down there because they’ve got Waite and Ziebell playing down there as well, so it’ll be an interesting little challenge but pressure on the ball is going to be the most significant thing in stopping Ben.”
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