PORT ADELAIDE hosts Essendon in a critical match under lights on Friday…
Clubland
If Port Adelaide was suffering withdrawal symptoms following the loss of Matt White, Hamish Hartlett and Jay Schulz to injury last week, the loss of Chad Wingard and Alipate Carlile on top of that certainly compounds matters.
Essendon has made no changes to the team that defeated Melbourne last week.
Old dogs, new digs
Stokes, Crowley, Kelly - yes, these blokes from other clubs joined the Bombers in a time of need. While other teams looked to rejuvenate their lists by phasing out these elder statesmen, they deliver crucial experience to Essendon in 2016. That's the sort of experience every team in the AFL will be mindful of this year.
Open doors
As Aaron Young showed in the Showdown, spots are there to be won. A late inclusion for Hamish Hartlett, Young was among the Power's best in the derby defeat. Darcy Byrne-Jones, Karl Amon and Paul Stewart are the latest in-form Magpies to be given a shot in the AFL side, and a strong performance from any or all of them could be enough to keep them in the side. It's all about seizing the opportunity.
No excuses
Port Adelaide was poor last week, badly exposed by the Crows, and supporters hurt as a result. The Power have shown it can move the ball and score quickly, but simply haven't had consistency in its game. That must change on Friday night.
The Final Word
Port Adelaide must respond.
Afterwords
Port Adelaide's usual home guernsey is yet to make an appearance in 2016, with the club to wear a special 'China' jumper on Friday night. That guernsey has the flags of Australia and China above the AFL logo as well as Mandarin characters for player surnames on the back of the jumper. It follows the 1997 throwback (Round 1) and Showdown jumper (Round 2) worn previously.
Darcy Byrne-Jones becomes Port Adelaide's 159th AFL player on Friday.
Over two million people are expected to see this game, with the telecast set to screen across China on CCTV.
Port Adelaide plays Essendon at the Adelaide Oval at 7.20pm ACST on Friday night.
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