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PORT Adelaide defender Troy Chaplin has flagged Brad Ebert as an early contender to captain the side against Geelong on Sunday.

Do you agree? Have your say at the bottom of the article

A hip flexor injury to Dom Cassisi over the bye weekend means the Power's entire leadership group will miss the game against the reigning premiers.

Chaplin has captained the side before and said he would be happy to do so again, but he said Ebert had been ultra professional this season and would be a good choice as skipper.

"Whether Matty [Primus] wants me to do it again, that's up to him, but there's guys like Brad Ebert, Kane [Cornes], 'Surj' (Jacob Surjan) as well who could do it," Chaplin said.

"[Ebert's] had a fantastic year and he's obviously had a pretty big impact on the group so far.

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"The way the club's going with getting the games into the younger guys I think he's been a standout in the way he's played on-field and off-field too.

"If he gets it, it'd be great for him."

Chaplin said he couldn't believe the circumstances that had befallen the Power, admitting he hadn't played in a side that was missing its leadership group.

"It's probably the first time in my nine years I've seen it happen," he said.

"It's disappointing because they're our key players as well, but at the same time it gives opportunity to some middle tier players and tests the depth of our list at the moment."

The Power will hold a leadership meeting on Tuesday afternoon, but Chaplin said it wouldn't matter when the group found out who the main man was.

While he labeled the captaincy an "honour", the 26-year-old down played the on-field significance of the role, claiming leading the side would be the responsibility of every player selected.

Chaplin was confident the Power would have the leadership amongst the playing group to hold it in good stead against the Cats.

"All it is is tossing the, well you don't even toss the coin, you go in there and say heads or tails and you point which way you're going," he said.

"It's a team effort on the day so I don't think it has that big of an impact on the group."

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Chaplin was confident the Power could put up a fight against the Cats as North Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney did this year, but said he expected the media to say otherwise.

"No doubt you guys in the media will write us off because it is a huge challenge, but we've just got to go out there and stick to the structures and the game-plan that Matty wants us to do and be competitive," he said.

"North Melbourne had a really good game against them earlier in the year and were able to knock them off [and] GWS went down there three or four weeks ago and were really competitive in the first half.

"There's no reason why we can't do the same."

Harry Thring covers Port Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.