PORT Adelaide has dismissed speculation young forward John Butcher will be rushed into the team to play Fremantle at AAMI Stadium on Saturday, with the club vowing to continue its patient approach to the former top-10 draft pick's development.
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Leading 2010 goalkicker Jay Schulz injured his hamstring in the Power's loss to the Sydney Swans last weekend and is expected to miss the clash with Fremantle.
Veteran Chad Cornes replaced Schulz in attack between rounds two and six when the former Richmond utility was sidelined with a knee complaint, but reports on Monday suggested the dual All Australian would be overlooked in favour of the untried Butcher this week.
Port Adelaide has taken a long-term approach to selection this season, blooding four debutants Jasper Pittard, Cam O'Shea, Simon Phillips and Ben Jacobs, and leaving the 31-year-old Cornes out of the team on two occasions.
There's been a groundswell of support for Butcher's name to be added to the list of debutants, but development coach Daniel Healy said it wouldn't be fair on the 19-year-old to play him at AFL level before he was ready.
"We're very excited about John, but we're also very mindful to be patient," Healy told Portadelaidefc.com.au.
"It's no secret we're struggling to get our forward line up and going and get enough entries inside 50m to make us dangerous and Butch is not completely on top of his game at SANFL level, so to throw him into a team that is struggling to kick scores would be setting him up for failure.
"We want players to come in and succeed and we think we've done that pretty well with Jasper Pittard and Cam O'Shea."
The four players to make their debuts for Port Adelaide this season are all smaller, running-type players.
In general, key-position players and ruckmen take longer to develop, and Healy said Butcher needed more time in the SANFL to improve his all-round game.
"Jack Watts was a first-round pick at Melbourne three years ago and whilst he's played some AFL games, he's still yet to take the competition by the scruff of the neck," he said.
"We're really happy with Butch's development and we're mindful that he's a young kid, who is still growing into his body, needing to develop size, needing to get used to playing against men and also to the demands of being in an AFL environment."
Butcher was viewed as a long-term replacement for retired champion and Power games record holder Warren Tredrea when was drafted by Port Adelaide with pick No.8 in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft.
The strong-marking forward was limited to a handful of games in his first season because of stress fractures in his back, and was placed on a modified program last summer to avoid a recurrence of the injury.
He's made solid progress in the SANFL this season, kicking 13 goals from six games to sit sixth in the League's goalkicking.
Healy was confident the former Gippsland and Maffra junior would be in a position to challenge for selection by the end of the season.
"There have been some good signs, but he isn't ready physically to cope with AFL yet," he said.
"His first year at the club was basically a write-off because of that [back] injury, so we're effectively treating him as a first-year player.
"We hope that by towards the end of the year he'll be close to being ready and we will get some games into him."
Katrina Gill covers Adelaide news for afl.com.au. Follow her on Twitter: @AFL_KatrinaGill
