Motlop is one of five inclusions in a 27-man Power squad, which will be trimmed to 24 ahead of Saturday’s match. Also into the squad come hard nut Matt Thomas, half-back Jay Nash, ruckman Matthew Lobbe and key forward Jay Schulz.
Out of the side which lost narrowly to the Western Bulldogs in the NAB Cup semi-final are Marlon Motlop, Wade Thompson, Troy Chaplin and Cameron Cloke.
Meanwhile, first round draft pick John Butcher has been placed on the Power’s long-term injury list. The move means a second Power rookie could be elevated for the round 1 match against North Melbourne, with David Rodan also on the long-term injury list.
Butcher is troubled by a stress fracture in his back, which hasn’t responded as well as predicted to treatment so far. Small forward Cameron Hitchcock and ruckman/tall forward Cloke are the two rookies in contention for elevation to the club’s senior list.
Power Football Operations Manager Peter Rohde says not much should be read into the omission of Cloke for this week’s practice game.
“Cameron remains in our thinking, but in many ways his form and ability is well known,” Rohde said. “We want to give Matthew Lobbe another run and also to have a look at how Daniel Stewart and Justin Westhoff handle ruck duties.
“The fact is we could elevate two rookies, one rookie or no rookies ahead of round 1, depending on the circumstances at the time, and we won’t decide that until round 1 selection.
“With John Butcher we are taking a long-term view to make sure he is right for the second half of the season and the seasons to come. John is a very important part of our future plans and we need to make sure we get this right now and build his core strength to avoid later problems.
“Troy Chaplin will miss this game because he will be unavailable for round 1 due to suspension, so we need to settle a defence without him for that game.”
The Power squad will fly to Mount Gambier on Saturday morning.
The squad of 27 is listed below:
1 CASSISI Domenic
3 SALOPEK Steven
4 MOTLOP Daniel
6 PEARCE Danyle
7 KRAKOUER Nathan
9 SURJAN Jacob
10 BOAK Travis
14 STEWART Paul
16 TREDREA Warren
17 GRAY Robbie
18 CORNES Kane
19 SALTER Nick
20 BROGAN Dean
21 THOMAS Matthew
22 NASH Jay
23 LOBBE Matthew
26 MOORE Andrew
27 CARLILE Alipate
28 SCHULZ Jay
31 BANNER Mitchell
33 EBERT Brett
35 CORNES Chad
38 HARDING Scott
39 WESTHOFF Justin
41 DAVENPORT Jason
43 STEWART Daniel
45 HITCHCOCK Cameron
