PORT ADELAIDE coach Mark Williams has declared veteran Brendon Lade’s future at Alberton in 2009 to be safe, but says the vice-captain will spend a few more weeks in the SANFL.

Lade, who has been omitted from the Power line up twice this season, played for the South Adelaide at Noarlunga on Saturday, while young ruckman Fabian Deluca continued his audition process at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.

Deluca started in the centre square against the AFL’s tallest player, Aaron Sandilands, as first choice ruckman Dean Brogan watched from the bench.

Sandilands racked up a whopping 35 hit-outs, but Williams said the ploy to keep Brogan out of the action was a deliberate one.

“It was really important for us to let Fabian have time on the ground and to see what he could do, in terms of an influence on the game,” Williams said.

“Today, he wasn’t as good and certainly wasn’t anywhere near what we thought Fabian could do. We need to keep giving him opportunities to see him prove that he can do it.”

Lade, unlike fellow veterans Michael Wilson and Peter Burgoyne, is contracted to the Power next year; a contract Williams said would be honoured.

“Ladey will be here next year and he’ll be playing. I spoke to Brendon during the week and I said, ‘I’m going to give Fabian a few games to prove he can do something’, and it’s important for us, as a club, and developing our list, that he plays,” Williams said.

“Apparently Ladey’s form in the SANFL was terrific. He took 10 marks, kicked a couple of goals and played pretty well yesterday. I’d like to think that he can continue on that form for a while in the SANFL and come back and play a few games [of AFL] at the end.”

While Lade is resigned to spending some more time in the SANFL several other Port Adelaide players are likely to get a look in next week.

Skipper Warren Tredrea (shoulder), Steve Salopek (achilles) and Troy Chaplin (ankle) were casualties from Sunday’s 28-point loss to Fremantle and are all expected to miss at least a week.

The Power will also be sweating on the outcome of the AFL match review panel’s assessment after defender Nick Lower was booked for making head-high contact with Brett Peake.

One positive from Sunday’s disappointing loss was the form of 2006 NAB Rising Star nominee Justin Westhoff, who finished with four goals, seven marks and a few scoring assists.

“I started to see some of that [confidence] from Westy last week and I can feel that things are moving in the right direction again,” Williams said.

“It’s been a difficult year for Justin. He’s played in a few different positions and Tredders has been back a bit closer to how [we know] he can play compared to the year before when he was really struggling. Just mixing and matching and trying to get that right; I was really pleased. He went for that handball over the top to Motlop, so it probably could’ve been another goal for him. He had a pretty good day.”