Port Adelaide forward Cameron Hitchcock has been placed on the long-term injury list as he recovers from recent shoulder surgery.
The 21-year-old - who played 13 games in 2011 and kicked nine goals - underwent the operation in January after partially dislocating his shoulder while training.
Hitchcock’s transfer to the long-term injury list rules him out of playing AFL or SANFL football for eight weeks, meaning he won’t return at least until the Power’s Round 2 clash against Essendon on Saturday 7 April.
Port Adelaide general manager football Peter Rohde said Hitchcock could be out of the game even longer, meaning the club at least wanted the opportunity to elevate a rookie to cover his absence.
“Hitchy’s recovery is progressing as we expected,” Rohde told PortAdelaideFC.com.au.
“In fact it’s going well, but he was never going to be ready for the first week of the season and he he’ll probably miss the first few weeks of the season.
“This decision means nothing in terms of Hitchy except that he can’t play for eight weeks, but he’s not going to play for eight weeks anyway and he automatically comes back onto our list when he’s fit and available.
“So it’s no reflection on his spot on the list, but it gives us the option if we want it of upgrading a rookie to put on our list in that first part of the season. The rookie can take his spot for the first few games of the season depending on when Hitchy becomes available.”
Port Adelaide is now free to elevate two rookies, with the other being a permanent space opened up due to the club having only 39 players on its senior list and a lone veteran in Dom Cassisi.
“That one’s different though,” explained Rohde.
“We’ve got to nominate that player, put them on the list and they’ve got to stay there for the whole year. We’ve got no flexibility.
“Whereas the long-term injury replacement we don’t have to use if we don’t want to and he goes off when Hitchy comes back. They just swap spots and the player who went up goes back on the rookie list.”
The leading contenders for elevation appear to be Jarrad Irons, Tom Jonas and Darren Pfeiffer.
19-year-old Irons played three games early in 2011 after being elevated to cover ruckman Matthew Lobbe’s long-term absence from a pre-season setback, only to have his own season wrecked by shoulder damage suffered in the SANFL.
Jonas, 21, played with the Power in the final four games of last year after being promoted following late-season surgery to a number of players.
24-year-old Pfeiffer is a more seasoned option, having been picked up by the Power in December’s Rookie Draft following previous stints at Adelaide and Carlton on top of his experience at SANFL and NEAFL level.
Port Adelaide’s other rookies are Danny Butcher, Mitch Curnow and Daniel Webb, but all remain untried at AFL level.
A decision on the permanent elevation will probably be made in late March, with the club also set to wait until the lead-up to Round 1 (1 April) to confirm any cover for Hitchcock’s absence.
Lobbe - who underwent hip surgery around the same time as Hitchcock’s operation - continues to make good progress and will not be placed on the long-term injury list.
“We’ve got the potential to upgrade two rookies now plus with Lobbes we’re actually hoping he will be ready to play round one or close to being back, so we’ll keep the option of playing him,” Rohde said.
