Room For Two In Ruck
Port Adelaide recruit Brent Renouf says he and fellow ruckman Matthew Lobbe can work in tandem next season
Renouf, 23, arrived at his new club last week and is living with teammate Tom Logan after being traded from Hawthorn.
He said he wasn't aiming to push Lobbe, who showed promise in the last 10 games of the season, out of the side despite his 52 games dwarfing the young Power prospect's 13.
"I don't think there's any of that anymore. We'll be working as a good partnership this year," Renouf said on Wednesday.
"Lobbe came along pretty strongly in the last half of this year and I think I might just slide in and give him a chop out and we'll work well together as a partnership.
"I don't think there's any second fiddle. It's just who's doing the role on the day and we'll work as a partnership rather than as No.1 and No.2.
"Me and 'Lobbes' have got a lot of work to do over the pre-season, we've got big Shaun Rehn on board so with Matty Primus, you can't get [much more] experience.
"They'll help us out and that's where our biggest improvement is going to come from."
Renouf missed the second half of last season after surgery to remove his gall bladder, which was injured when he received a knee to the stomach from Geelong's James Podsiadly in round 12.
The Hawks informed his manager in October there were clubs interested in his services, and a trade was struck with the Power for NAB AFL Draft selection No.33.
Renouf said he was relishing the opportunity following the most frustrating season of his promising five-year career.
Renouf won a premiership with the Hawks in just his eighth game in 2008, adding 37 games over the next two seasons.
"It was a thrill to play in a premiership team in my second year of football and since then I've had a few injuries and upsets but I'm looking forward to getting a fresh start and kicking off again," Renouf said.
"I'm only 23 years old, I've got a lot of developing to do, a lot of time to learn my craft in the ruck and there's no illusions about that.
"I've got a lot of work to do and a lot of improvement to come."
He also floated the idea of playing both ends of the ground next season.
"I don't mind going up forward and I also enjoy playing down back a little bit as well," Renouf said.
"Every player these days has to have a bit more to their game rather than just the one position.
"Over the summer, everyone's going to be looking to improve and grow on their game from last year."
Renouf was enjoying getting to know his teammates after meeting about eight of them in New South Wales during the off-season break.
He said he had already observed a competitive nature among the group, and was buoyed by the depth of talent on the list.
"We're going to have a big focus on developing our young guys and just looking for continual improvement in the boys," he said.
"That's pretty much our aim for the whole pre-season."
The Power will play the Hawks twice next year - in round 11 at AAMI Stadium and round 20 at Aurora Stadium in Launceston.
Renouf said he wasn't concerned about meeting his former teammates, saying here was no animosity.
"I don't think it will be hard, I think it will be good fun," he said.
"You always want to prove a point but I left on good terms so it will be good to see the boys and have a crack at them."