PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says the club's leadership group will be finalised towards the end of the Power's pre-season campaign, declaring every player on the list has a chance ahead of the 2013 season to show leadership potential.
Dom Cassisi has captained the side since 2009, when he took the reins from Power legend Warren Tredrea, but the new coach wouldn't guarantee the 30-year-old would start a fifth season as skipper.
"It's like every pre-season with every AFL club ... you have the existing captain and Dom's that, as we sit here now, and we'll go through pre-season and we'll make those decisions in February/March," Hinkley said.
"I think every player gets an opportunity to show that they've got some leadership over the pre-season and we look forward to seeing who all those players are.
"You get some surprises sometimes ... you see some people who jump up, and who's to say who those players will be and who'll be a part of the leadership group."
While the club picked seven acting captains for its clash against Geelong in round 15 when its entire leadership group was out injured, young midfielders Brad Ebert and Travis Boak are considered most likely to lead if Cassisi's reign ends.
Hinkley, who was appointed senior coach in early October, said the decision of who captained the club wouldn't rest solely on his shoulders, with the playing group to vote.
"You certainly love to have the players' involvement and their input as to who are the players that they respect the most," he said.
"We'll take their information on board."
After a season in which more than half the squad missed football through injury, Hinkley said the players' fitness information would also be heavily scrutinized.
At Monday morning's 3km time trial, he announced he wanted his side to "train as hard as they can possibly train" over the summer, but added he wanted 90 per cent of his list capable of playing consistently next season.
Although he has promised a grueling summer, Hinkley said players' workloads would be monitored closely in order to avoid "breaking them".
"We know AFL footy is a tough game and you're never going to get them 100 per cent ready to be picked, but if we can get 90 per cent of list available for the whole season, we'll be in a really good spot," he said.
"There's also obviously a bit of a balance in how far you can go without breaking them and we've got to get them really close to that edge and make sure we don't push them over."
In order to do that, Hinkley said the club's high performance recruit Darren Burgess had analysed last year's pre-season schedule.
He said Burgess knew what each Power player was capable of and would tailor programs around it.
"I think that's the beauty of AFL footy - you get a lot of information over a long period of time and you'd be mad not to use that information," Hinkley said.
"Darren's (Burgess) already been through all that information, got a really good handle on what the players have been already through and what they're capable of going through for this pre-season."
Power 3km time trial
1. Kane Cornes 9.46
2. Cam O'Shea 10.01
3. Brad Ebert 10.19
4. Cam Hitchcock 10.25
5. Matthew Lobbe 10.26
