Jasper Pittard, Cameron Hitchcock, Matthew Lobbe, Nick Salter and Jackson Trengove remain sidelined through injury and will continue various programs designed to put them back onto the football field as quickly and safely as possible.
Jasper Pittard will test his fitness with an imminent return to the Sturt side to play Port Adelaide in the SANFL this weekend. Pittard has taken a cautious approach during his hamstring recovery and head fitness coach Cam Falloon is encouraged by his response to the recovery process.
“Jasper’s had a hamstring injury and we took a cautious approach with him considering he’s has a history of them during his short career so we wanted to make sure he ticked all the boxes,” said Falloon.
“He’s done a really good job with his recovery and we’re confident his body is in good condition and he’ll return for Sturt in the SANFL this weekend.”
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Cameron Hitchcock was added to the club’s long-term injury list during the summer and will resume training ahead of the Power’s Round 2 clash in a fortnight, whilst ruckman Matthew Lobbe is on track in his recovery from hip surgery.
“Cam had some shoulder surgery in the pre-season and he’ll resume contact skills next week in the lead up to Round 2 - all things going well he’ll be able to return to playing by Round 3,” said Falloon.
“Matthew Lobbe had hip surgery in the pre-season. He has been running and will be introduced to light skills with selected drills early next week.”
After suffering a stress reaction in his foot ahead of the Power’s pre-season clash with Fremantle, Nick Salter is currently out of his ‘moonboot’ and is set to resume running training within the next week.
“Nick is walking around pain-free and he’s likely to resume running early to mid next week. We’ll make an assessment later next week as to when we think his return to play will be based on how he reacts to the running,” Falloon said.
Meanwhile key defender Jackson Trengove has been ruled out of Port Adelaide’s opening round clash against the Saints as the club seeks to prevent a repeat occurrence of the finger dislocation that occurred against Melbourne two weeks ago.
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General manager - football Peter Rohde is confident that the weekend off will ensure the interests of both club and player are well served.
“We’ve made the decision to rule Jackson out of this week’s game,” said Rohde.
“The medical advice is that if he plays this week and displaces the fracture he may require surgery and need an extensive break from playing.
“Our understanding is that if he has this weekend off he is much less likely to re-injure the finger when playing next week and will therefore just miss the one game.
“We will reassess his injury next week in anticipation that he will be available for Round 2.”
Full injury list details are available here
