Port Adelaide defender Alipate Carlile and key forward John Butcher could still play in the Power’s opening NAB Cup round this weekend, after making significant progress in overcoming injury concerns.
Carlile - who finished Friday night’s internal trial with hamstring tightness - and Butcher - who missed the game through soreness - both trained better than expected on Monday ahead of Sunday’s round robin clashes with Adelaide and Carlton at AAMI Stadium.
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Port Adelaide general manager football Peter Rohde said Carlile had been cleared of hamstring damage, with the pain he experienced likely to be back-related.
“He was much improved today,” Rohde said of the Power full back.
“He’s joined in some training today so it’ll be a matter of seeing how he’ll go over the next couple of days and then making a decision on whether we’ve got enough conditioning in him to play this week or just keep training for another week.”
Carlile also experienced leg soreness in mid-January when it was initially thought to be a hamstring strain, but was later traced to his back.
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Rohde says it could be a similar situation this time.
“It seems to be very similar in that he’s got some pain in his ‘glute’ and hamstring, but he’s pulled up well and has got full strength in both hammys and everything, so there’s no issue with the actual muscle. It’s just that he might have some referred pain from his back.
“We’re going to do some more investigations on his back and we’re going to find out what’s going on there. It’s probably more about how we can ease the tightness in his back.”
Butcher completed more of Monday’s session, easing concerns about the strong marking forward.
“He’s improved enormously since the end of last week,” Rohde said.
“He’s joined in and done almost all of training today. He’s certainly put his hand up, but again it’s more to do with missing a bit of training last week whether we think he’s ready to play and if he does play how much ground time he’ll play.”
Both players will be tested before the Power names an expected 34-man squad for the NAB Cup kick-off, with up to 12 players expected to play in only one of Sunday’s games.
Port Adelaide meets Carlton from 2.40pm, before breaking for the Crows-Blues game and then taking on Adelaide from 4.50pm.
Rohde says the club will have to manage its players during the 90-minute break between games, which will be played in 20-minute halves.
“We’ll come up with a plan so they cool down but not stiffen up too much,” Rohde said.
“But because it’s such a long break you can’t really keep them warm all the way through either because they’ll be too fatigued by the time the game starts. So that’ll be in calculations as to which players we think can handle it the best.
Jasper Pittard and Ben Newton face uphill battles to prove their fitness, while Mitch Curnow is still recovering from a hamstring and Matthew Lobbe and Cameron Hitchcock are out of calculations following surgery last month.
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