SCOTT LYCETT will finally play his 100th AFL game against Richmond on Saturday, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has confirmed.
Hinkley revealed Port would play two ruckmen for the first time in 2020, giving supporters a chance to see Lycett work in tandem with Peter Ladhams, who has performed strongly in Lycett’s absence.
The former Eagle has missed the last three games with a knee injury, leaving him stranded on 99 games.
“Scott will play, he’ll come into the side and play his 100th game, which is a great result for Scott and his career thus far,” Hinkley revealed at a press conference on Friday.
“We’re going to play both the rucks in the game this week and have a look at that. It’s a challenge for teams but we think with Pete and Scott’s flexibility with being able to go forward and help to provide a target, it’s something we have to explore and we’re going to do that tomorrow.
“They both hunt the ball really well around the contest and give us a bit of extra ground ball support, and against a side like Richmond we’re going to need a bit of extra help around the ball.”
Hinkley said defender Jarrod Lienert would return to the side for the suspended Sam Mayes, with utility Justin Westhoff to make way for Lycett.
It will be a big game for milestones at Port Adelaide with Captain Tom Jonas and vice-captain Ollie Wines to play their respective 150th games.
Hinkley said he would not have to bring up the milestones before the game because the trio were so well respected by their teammates.
He said it was nice to see Lycett, a Port Adelaide junior, get to his 100th game at the club he grew up at, and for Jonas and Wines in particular it was a remarkable coincidence that they will play their 150th games in the club’s 150th anniversary year.
“They’ve got quite different careers but it’s remarkable that they reach the 150 milestone in our 150th year – there’s something about that isn’t there, there’s something going on there when you think those boys have done a lot of things together,” he said.
“One starts as a high draft pick and one starts as a rookie and they end up playing their 150th game together as leaders of our club.
“Good on them, they’ll play footy together in their 150th game tomorrow and they’ll remember it. It’ll be a great moment not just for the team but a great moment for those two fellas.”
Richmond has been one of the form sides of the competition in recent weeks and moved to third on the ladder with a convincing win over second-placed Brisbane on Tuesday night.
Hinkley said the Tigers were the team everyone wanted to beat and his side would have to be at its absolute best to do so.
“To their credit they’ve changed personnel but they haven’t changed their game style. They play the way they play and have done for three years,” he said of Richmond.
“They’re a really good team and they deserve to be called the champs of the comp.
But he said his side would continue with the game style which has seen it win eight of its ten games this season, and back itself to challenge the reigning premiers.
“We’re going to play our game and challenge them with our game as best as we possibly can,” Hinkley said.
“We need to find out against the best team of the last three years and this is a great test.
“When you’re trying to become a good team, you have to stick with what you do and the teams that have been at the top for a while, along with Richmond – the West Coast and Geelong, those type of teams, they just play their style and we are going to play our style as much as we can.
“We’re not ignorant to the opposition though, we have to understand what they bring. Our challenge is to play our game.”
Port Adelaide faces Richmond at Adelaide Oval from 4:05pm ACST on Saturday.
