PORT ADELAIDE’s SANFL-contracted players have hit the track to kick off pre-season training with a host of new faces joining some that supporters will be familiar with.

Among the key recruits are former Hawthorn and Norwood big man Luke Surman and others with league experience including Dylan Aldridge (North Adelaide), Campbell Wildman (Sturt), Jake Weidemann and Jake Westbrook (both Woodville-West Torrens).

The club is pleased to have retained Matthew Appleton, Tom Corcoran, Sean Samblich, Ben Edwards, Jack Strange and Simon Wong, and the group has resumed training under coach Matthew Lokan.

Port Adelaide SANFL and Next Generation Academy Manager, Shane Grimm said after a slow start to pre-season, Surman would be a valuable addition to the side.

“We’re really excited about having Luke on board. If you look at who is likely to play at SANFL level for us in the forward line we are pretty young. It’ll be good to have some support for young Ollie Lord who has just been drafted and will need some time to develop,” he told portadelaidefc.com.au.

“Luke is a genuine key forward who can ruck and has spent some time down back so he will add a lot for us.

“He’s had some knee surgery but will be full weight bearing next week and we are hopeful that we can get him through his rehabilitation and ready to play as soon as possible, and that he will be available come round 1.”

Weidemann is the son of former Crows cult hero Wayne Weidemann and will be joined by two other players whose fathers played at the highest level in Owen Montgomery – son of the club’s current AFL defence coach and 2004 Premiership player Brett Montgomery - and Miller Carter – son of inaugural Power-listed player and five-time SANFL premiership defender Stephen Carter.

“As a father-son prospect we see Owen as a project player and we want to help with his development. He’s got two younger brothers coming through as well and we look forward to helping him develop at SANFL level,” Grimm explained.

“Miller did play his junior football at Woodville-West Torrens but lost a bit of passion for the game and played at Port Districts.

“At the end of the year Districts coach Simon Maddern gave me a call and said Miller was keen to have another crack at the SANFL and wanted to give it a go with Port Adelaide after a strong season playing as a forward.

“We’ve only had two training sessions but Matthew Lokan said his skills were really nice, he has a good kick, he’s a good size, he’s tough like his dad was and he ran really well in the running drills.”

Another player very familiar with Alberton is former West Adelaide wingman/half back Aryan Sareen who spent the past three years training as part of the club’s NGA program.

Grimm described him as “neat with good skills” and “probably the best runner at training so far”.

And, overall, he said the club was confident it had the side to challenge for a 37^th SANFL premiership.

“We wanted to get guys between 20-25 years of age and it is really handy to get some guys with league experience,” he said.

“Considering the rule changes and restrictions on us this year, we’ve recruited really well and we think we’re quite deep.

“We think we’ve done well to keep the guys we did keep and recruiting some players we think can definitely contribute.”

Trial games will be played against South Adelaide, Sturt and Adelaide to help prepare the side for Round 1 of the season proper, which is expected to get underway on April 1.

The SANFL expects to release the fixture in the coming weeks.

The club was unable to participate in the SANFL in 2020 under the AFL’s COVID-19 rules and its last game at the level was the 2019 SANFL Grand Final.

*denotes SANFL leadership player

^denotes returning player