PORT ADELAIDE assistant coach Jarrad Schofield is excited by the prospect of having young and exciting focal points in the forwardline for the club’s season opener against Gold Coast.

Debutant Mitch Georgiades and Todd Marshall will bear the majority of the load as key targets in the forward half in the absence of Charlie Dixon, who has been ruled out after failing to recover in time from a minor adductor injury.

Schofield is looking forward to seeing how the young forwards gel with the experienced smaller men in attack.

“There is some youth there, but we think we have some experience at ground level too,” Schofield told Adelaide radio on Friday morning.

“Motlop, Gray and Ebert and the likes going through there. Hopefully they can settle the nerves, especially for young Mitch Georgiades who is an exciting player.

“Going up there with no crowd might be the best medicine for him. He can just really go and play.

“It’s exciting for the young fellas to be our key targets, but we feel like we’ve got enough at ground level to hopefully kick a winning score.”

The midfield coach is well aware of the danger the Suns present the Power on Saturday evening at Metricon Stadium, and he said his side would not take them lightly.

“We haven’t been focussing on anything besides Gold Coast,” Schofield said.

“If you look at their form and statistics over the pre-season, they were the number one side in the competition. They were number one for time in forward half. Their contest work is at a really high level at the moment.

“I know the way I will be addressing it with my midfielders is to no underestimate these guys. Not for one minute are we taking these guys lightly.

“Over the last three years, they’ve won their first month of football. They are definitely up and about and a lot of energy.”

The 2004 premiership player said his side has impressed him over the pre-season, and everyone is just looking forward to the season starting.

“We have had a long, tough pre-season - as all clubs have - where we have worked on a lot of things,” Schofield explained.

“We’ve exposed a lot of players to new roles. We’ve expected more players to step up and improve themselves, and we feel like we’ve achieved that.

“Now we are looking forward to taking on the Gold Coast on the weekend.”

Port Adelaide’s clash with the Gold Coast will be broadcast live on Channel 7 (6.50pm ACDT) and Fox Sports 3 (6.30pm ACDT), with a screening of the club’s 150^th anniversary documentary Onward to Victory to be aired on Channel 7 at the competition of the football coverage.