Marlon Motlop Player Profile
Both Power-listed Motlops had a year to forget in 2010.
Daniel, 28, managed just nine AFL games in a season littered with injury, inconsistent form and off-field controversies, while Marlon failed to pull on the Port Adelaide guernsey once in his third year at the club.
Marlon, 20, made a promising start to his AFL career back in 2008, playing two games and kicking a goal of the year contender against North Melbourne in round 22.
He added three more games to his tally in 2009, before a bout of osteitis pubis brought a premature end to his season.
He was easing back into full training last summer when injury struck again and he suffered a broken foot during a pre-Christmas training drill.
Motlop had surgery to repair the fracture and returned to the field two months later only to re-injure his foot a few weeks into his SANFL comeback.
He endured another two-month stint in rehabilitation and returned with the Roosters late in the season where he played alongside his cousin, who had been axed from the Port Adelaide team, for just the fourth time.
The Motlop cousins faced an uncertain offseason, with Marlon coming out of contract and Daniel requesting a trade to another club during the AFL's exchange period, but both were retained by the Power and are desperately trying to make up for lost time.
Daniel, who was accused of being overweight last pre-season as he recovered from ankle and shoulder surgery, saw the lack of interest at the trade table as an eye-opener and returned to training in excellent shape, while Marlon has been the Power's star performer in the first month of training, according to fitness coach Cam Falloon.
"Marlon has had a really bad run. He fractured his foot, so he had a screw inserted but then that bent and he had to have more surgery to remove and redo it," Falloon said.
"It was a credit to Marlon that he was able to push through all those mental barriers and then he went away and worked extremely hard during the offseason, not just with his training but in terms of his diet and lifestyle.
"He's come back and has taken his training to another level. He's actually setting the standard for our pre-season this year."
Marlon Motlop weighed just 75kg when he arrived at Alberton with pick No.28 in the 2007 NAB AFL Draft, but now has a frame - and a fitness base - that will allow him to withstand the rigours of playing regular AFL football.
The Power deliberately recruited running players with good kicking ability at last month's NAB AFL Draft, taking skilful trio Ben Jacobs, Ben Newton and Aaron young with their first three picks, but the forgotten Motlop might prove to be the ready-made replacement for half-back Nathan Krakouer the club was searching for.
"We see Marlon playing that half-back/midfield/half-forward role. He's the sort of player that has all the poise and time in the world, which allows him to use the ball well," football operations manager Peter Rohde said.
"People forget how young Marlon is. We drafted him as a 17-year-old and he was a fairly high draft pick. He hasn't even turned 21 yet and we see him as having a lot of talent and we wanted to give him another crack this season."
