Exciting young defender Mitch Farmer and strong-marking forward Nick Salter will make their AFL debuts on Sunday against St. Kilda.

Farmer and Salter were joined by Paul Stewart in the final team, to replace Warren Tredrea (shoulder), Steven Salopek (Achilles) and Troy Chaplin (ankle).

Farmer (No. 13), who was selected with the Power’s last pick (49th overall) in the 2007 National Draft, has shown good form for Sturt in the SANFL, keeping opposition small forwards quiet while creating run out of the back line.

Salter (No. 45) was promoted from the rookie-list on Thursday and comes into the game on the back of an 8 goal effort in the Eagles’ reserves side last weekend.

Here’s Port Adelaide’s General Manager – Football Operations Peter Rohde’s inside word on the two debutants and the final team selection.

Farmer, Salter and Stewart are the three to replace the injured trio of Tredrea, Salopek and Chaplin. We’re hopeful Chappy will only miss a week, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Stewart has played some games for the Eagles since returning from injury and we’re obviously keen to get some more AFL games into him.

Mitch Farmer has shown some very consistent form for Sturt in the SANFL and has definitely earned his call up.

Mitch is a small back. He’s a tough competitive bloke who can play on-ball as well. He’s got a great vertical leap, he’s a good tackler and he possesses some good speed. He was captain of the Calder Cannons under 18 Premiership last year and we’re excited about seeing him at AFL level.

Salter has kicked a lot of goals this year and played in the state game earlier in the year. He kicked 8 goals on the weekend in the Eagles’ reserves and we were keen to upgrade him to the senior list and have a look at him during the last few weeks of the season.

Nick was part of the AIS under 18s squad but didn’t get drafted in that year. He spent last year at the Eagles and showed some great form towards the end of the year. He’s a very good mark and a great long kick. We anticipate he’ll play mainly up forward.

We’ve got two first-game players coming into the side as well Paul Stewart, who made his debut earlier this year, so from our point of view it’s exciting to see what these young guys can do with their chance.

Damon White will resume through the SANFL and we’ll see how he pulls up after that.

Speak to you all again next week.

The Power’s final team to face the Saints, as named at 4.30pm on Friday, is as follows…

B: Michael Pettigrew, Alipate Carlile, Nick Lower
HB: Jacob Surjan, Toby Thurstans, Nathan Lonie
C: Domenic Cassisi, Kane Cornes, Travis Boak
HF: Greg Bentley, Tom Logan, Danyle Pearce
F: Justin Westhoff, Daniel Motlop, Brett Ebert
Foll: Dean Brogan, Shaun Burgoyne, David Rodan
Interchange: Fabian Deluca, Mitch Farmer, Nick Salter, Paul Stewart
Emergencies: Adam Thomson, Damon White, Ryan Williams

IN: Farmer, Salter, Stewart
OUT: Tredrea (shoulder), Salopek (Achilles), Chaplin (ankle)