AHEAD of Round 1 of the AFL season beginning, the Power sought - and was granted - permission for a number of players to perform at SANFL level.

With Port Adelaide (SANFL) having the bye that week in SANFL trial games, both Brett Ebert and Jacob Surjan were 'guest' players for South Adelaide reserves and Norwood reserves respectively.

The games were watched closely by returning development manager Daniel Healy and new development coach Matthew Nicks. Their full report is below.

Aaron Young (for Roosters vs Redlegs @ Coopers Stadium)
In Youngie’s first league game he mostly played across half-back. As the game went on he got better and better, and North Adelaide were really pleased with his competitiveness at this level of football - that’s the sort of assessment that holds him in good stead in his first year within the AFL system.

Marlon Motlop (for Roosters reserves vs Redlegs @ Coopers Stadium)
Marlon had a good game in a further continuation of what has been a pretty pleasing pre-season after a tough year with injury in 2010. He had 20 possessions and tackled very strongly, and kicked a very good goal in a game that he can be happy to get under his belt.

Callum Hay (for Roosters reserves vs Redlegs @ Coopers Stadium)
Hay had a slow first half but he really picked up his workrate in the second half, and he was rewarded with some nice passages of play on the wing, accumulating 17 possessions in total.

Jacob Surjan (for Redlegs reserves vs Roosters @ Coopers Stadium)
This was Surj’s second run around for 2011 as he works back from a knee injury that he had in 2010. He worked hard and laid 10 tackles for the game in a tough situation where he didn’t really know any of his teammates having never played with them before. He’ll be happy to get the game under his belt.

Nick Salter (for Eagles vs Bulldogs @ Playford Alive Oval)
Salts started up forward for the Eagles, as he usually does, and booted three goals in the first three quarters. After that he went into the back half and had a solid finish to the game, picking up 6 touches as a defender.

Jarrad Redden (for Eagles vs Bulldogs @ Playford Alive Oval)
This was a much-improved effort from Big Red when compared to last week, and he really controlled the hit-outs. He played forward at times as well, and booted one goal.

Jason Davenport (for Bloods vs Glenelg @ City Mazda)
After missing a fair bit of preseason with injury, this was Dav’s first game for 2011. He played about 80% game time and got through well. He’ll be better for the run, and he’ll undoubtedly build to 100% game time in the coming weeks as he works his way back towards the form and fitness required to get into the Power side.

Daniel Webb (for Bloods vs Glenelg @ City Mazda)
Now that he’s added some muscle to his big frame and improved his strength and size Webby is being used as a key target up forward for West Adelaide. He’ll continue to develop and work on using his body as a weapon - he took several contested marks against the Bays and that’ll definitely be a developmental focus for him in 2011.

Mitch Curnow (for Double Blues reserves vs Panthers @ Higginbotham Oval)
Mitch is playing in the ruck and he continues to improve from game to game. Stoppage work is his strength and his ability to influence contests around the ground is something that he’ll concentrate on developing in 2011.

Brett Ebert (for Panthers reserves vs Double Blues @ Higginbotham Oval)
Ebo played around 60-70% game time in his second game back since LARS surgery after Round 21 last year. He struggled a little bit with match fitness having missed training in the past few weeks with tonsillitis, and he’ll definitely continue to build his fitness and his game time with the Magpies in the coming weeks.