PORT Adelaide kicks off its 2013 NAB Cup campaign - and its first season under new senior coach Ken Hinkley - at AAMI Stadium on Sunday 17 February.
The Power takes on Adelaide and St Kilda in the now traditional triangular NAB Cup opener before travelling to Renmark and Alice Springs for its following games.
Port Adelaide, the Crows and the Saints compete in the shortened format triple-header at AAMI Stadium from 4pm on Sunday 17 February, concluding the first week of the NAB Cup before having the second week off.
The club then has the honour of competing in the first AFL contest at Renmark Oval, taking on Melbourne from 4pm on Sunday 3 March.
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Following the Riverland road trip, Port Adelaide flies north to meet West Coast in Alice Springs from 7pm on Saturday 9 March.
General manager football Peter Rohde said the NAB Cup campaign would be a valuable opportunity for the club to round out its preparation for 2013 under the new coaching team assembled at Alberton.
“Ken Hinkley, his coaching panel and all the players will have had a long pre-season to work on our plans for next year, and the NAB Cup is certainly a chance to put all of that on the park and do our final fine tuning before we start competing for premiership points,” Rohde told portadelaidefc.com.au
“The triple-header has become the standard NAB Cup opener for us on our home ground, and then we get to play in some different locations which will be a great experience for our new coaches, players and especially our supporters and football fans in Renmark and up at Alice.”
The Renmark clash will be a preview of the AFL Premiership season opener against the Demons at the MCG just a month later on Easter Sunday, 31 March.
“Football and sport is an enormous part of life in the Riverland and it’s a real honour for Port Adelaide to be able to take AFL up there next year and play a part in the first ever game in Renmark,” Rohde said.
“The locals embraced a NAB Cup challenge game involving other teams in Berri a few years ago and we remember going up to the Riverland for our Community Camp in 2007, so it will be good to get up there for a game of our own.”
Port Adelaide then returns to Alice Springs for the first time since the 2011 NAB Cup, taking on the Eagles under lights at Traeger Park.
It’s yet to be confirmed if clubs not competing in the NAB Cup grand final will play in challenge games in the final week, but Port Adelaide will lobby for any fourth game to be at an AFL venue.
“If we play, we believe it’s important that we can round out the pre-season preparation with a hit-out on a regular AFL ground, preferably at it AAMI Stadium but at an interstate venue if that’s how it works out,” Rohde said.
“We’ve got plenty of travelling to do and while we don’t know what the final week will bring, the NAB Cup is looking like a really good hit-out for us.
“It’s worked out that we play last year’s NAB Cup finalists West Coast and Adelaide, who also played in the finals in September, along with St Kilda and Melbourne who we play in Round 1 of the season proper, so there are a lot of positives for us and our supporters.”
The NAB Cup will also provide an opportunity to become accustomed to new rules to be implemented from 2013, particularly changes to ruck duels, free kicks for forceful contact below the knees and stricter interpretation of holding the ball.
“We’ll be able to prepare and practice for those changes in our pre-season training, but it’s important to get a couple of games under the belt where we are actually playing to those rules in match conditions,” Rohde said.
The 2013 NAB Cup grand final will be played on either Friday 15 March of Saturday 16 March between the sides that finish top of a mini ladder after the preliminary games.
