TWO of Port Adelaide’s new draftees hit the track with their teammates for the first time on Friday.
First-round selection Lachie Jones and father-son rookie Taj Schofield joined in on their first training session since officially landing at the club in the drafts this week.
Both were very familiar with Alberton, having come through the club’s Next Generation Academy program.
And while fellow draftee Ollie Lord is still to join the group as he finalises his move from Victoria, the other remaining rookie was a notable absentee.
“Tyson (Goldsack) has taken some real liberties already,” General Manager – Football, Chris Davies joked at a press conference on Friday.
“He got drafted yesterday and decided he’s not coming back until January the 6th with the five plus year players.”
Goldsack was taken with pick 16 of the rookie draft, having retired at the end of 2019 after a 165-game career with Collingwood.
He came to Adelaide to be Port Adelaide’s SANFL leadership player in 2020 but never represented the club because of its inability to participate in the competition due to the AFL’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Goldsack became a popular member of the coaching staff instead as a development coach.
Davies explained the decision to add the 33-year-old to the list.
“We’ve taken enough players over the last three or four years who are young and developing and we felt like to add another player who can help to develop those guys, not only during the week but also on the weekend at SANFL level was important,” he said.
“Tyson will help us win at SANFL level but will also be a fantastic teacher for a group of players who as I say, we have some high hopes for in terms of their development.
“I don’t think he’ll play at AFL level. We’ve picked him to do a job for us in regard to our development program and that’s equally as important.”
Davies said the club had to contemplate the SANFL’s new rules regarding how Port and Adelaide make up their playing lists, and there was no hiding from the fact that there was a financial benefit with regard to the soft cap by having Goldsack play dual playing and coaching roles.
But he said fast tracking the development of the club’s talented young group was the primary consideration.
“We thought getting Cam Sutcliffe back to form that partnership with Goldy was going to be important for our long-term list development so I’m not hiding from the fact that Goldy’s got a role to play,” Davies said.
“It’ll largely be about list development but he’ll need to perform on the weekend in order for it to be a success for us at SANFL level but I think our list is balanced enough that I highly doubt he’ll play at AFL level, but he’ll play an important role for us at SANFL level and from a coaching stand-point throughout the week.”
Davies said the club was pleased with its draft haul and there was good depth across all positions.
But he revealed there was one spot available on its list that the club would consider filling in the pre-season or mid-season.
“We’ve got a spot open and if we see a need, or if there are players in Victoria who we see some development in over the next six months or so, we’ll do what’s right for our list, whether that’s from the SANFL or another competition,” he said.
