The Power will welcome back two of its most coveted stars this weekend, with the return of Michael Wilson and Chad Cornes.

Wilbur will return to play the Swans this Saturday at AAMI Stadium after almost eight months on the sidelines with an Achilles injury.

Cornes, who broke his finger in a contest during the game against the Saints in Round 6, has missed the last two Power games – a win against Essendon and a tough loss to Hawthorn.

Key defender Troy Chaplin will play his 50th game.

Here’s Power General Manager – Football Operations Peter Rohde’s inside word on this week’s selection…

We’re obviously delighted to welcome Chad and Michael back, they’re both very important players in our team and they have the flexibility to play on the ball and in other positions.

It’s good to have Michael’s strong body back in the side to add some strength around the ball, especially against a team like Sydney who has some strong bodies themselves. It’s a good bonus for us.

Wilbur has worked very hard to get back. It’s been a long slow road with that sort of injury, but from Christmas onwards he has developed pretty quickly and he’s been doing close to full training for a month now.

Chad’s been able to keep his fitness up during his four weeks out injured. He’s had a couple of weeks of doing the full running training so he should be ready to go. His hand is obviously going to be a bit sore for a while, but it won’t affect his ball handling.

He’s also a very flexible player who we’ve probably missed over the last couple of weeks. It’s good to have his solid frame back too because stoppages will be important this week.

Chad and Wilbur are both barometers for the team in terms of the effort, intensity and physicality. It will be great to have them back.

Shaun is difficult to cover but the in Michael and Chad we have some versatile players who can help cover his absence. Shaun’s been kicking goals so Chad is probably going to have to help out up forward a bit more than he usually does too. Having said that, with Robbie Gray in the side we’ve got an extra forward who can rotate through the midfield as well.

Thommo was a bit stiff, but with Michael and Chad coming in, someone had to make way unfortunately.

Here’s the Power’s 22 to face Sydney, as named at 4.30pm on Thursday…

B: Michael Pettigrew, Alipate Carlile, Jacob Surjan
HB: Peter Burgoyne, Toby Thurstans, Dom Cassisi
C: Travis Boak, Chad Cornes, Kane Cornes
HF: David Rodan, Warren Tredrea, Brett Ebert
F: Daniel Motlop, Justin Westhoff, Robbie Gray
Foll: Dean Brogan, Steven Salopek, Danyle Pearce
Interchange: Michael Wilson, Troy Chaplin, Tom Logan, Brendon Lade
Emergencies: Adam Thomson, Paul Stewart, Damon White

IN: Chad Cornes, Michael Wilson
OUT: Shaun Burgoyne (suspension), Adam Thomson (omitted)