PORT ADELAIDE is confident it has the depth to cover the loss to injury of gun midfielder Travis Boak for Saturday night’s clash with Brisbane.
Boak has been managing a minor quad injury for the last couple of weeks and won’t make the trip to Queensland to take on the Lions.
The 32-year-old is expected to be available for next week’s Showdown at Adelaide Oval against the Crows.
Defender Ryan Burton says Boak’s absence presents another opportunity to show the club’s squad depth.
“Trav’s been huge this year once again and he’s going to be missed,” Burton told portadelaidefc.com.au.
“We’ll have another player coming up who will step into his shoes and play a really big role. We do it as a 22 and not just rely on one person.
“We saw Sam Powell-Pepper have a really good game with the Magpies in his return and he’s a chance, Rockliff is a star player as well and we know what he can do at AFL level so there’s a couple of players who can come in and play a role.”
The Lions will be without their own star midfielder with Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale, who narrowly edged Boak for the award last season, to be missing with an ankle injury.
Despite his absence, Burton said going to the Gabba to face Brisbane was always a good test, especially given the depth in the Lions midfield.
“He’s obviously a star player and has done some really good things against us in the past,” Burton said. “But it’s going to bring someone else in and I’m sure they’ll play just as well.
“Their midfield is a star-studded line-up anyway so we’re going to have to give them respect and try beat them as a whole midfield group.”
Burton has been in fine form in 2021, exceeding his career averages for disposals, marks, tackles and metres gained among other statistics.
The 24-year-old is part of the competition’s fourth-meanest defence, and enjoying his run of fitness, despite having his knee strapped at training on Thursday.
“The body is going really well. I had a really good pre-season and we added a few things with me training an extra session so I’ve got a really good load under me right now, a good base and.. the body is as good as it’s ever been.
“The knee wasn’t cooperating this week so I’ve had a bit of strapping to give me some confidence at training today but I’m going into Saturday’s game doing well.”
Burton – a childhood Port Adelaide supporter – admitted the playing group was disappointed to hear the club had been prevented from wearing its iconic black and white prison bar guernsey in next week’s AFL Showdown.
But he remained optimistic he would be running out in the iconic jumper at some point in the future.
“We’re all really disappointed when we heard the news,” he said. “We love playing in it. It felt like armour for us when we ran out last year against the Crows in it.
“Hopefully later in the year we’ll get an opportunity to wear it or in future years to come. We’ll leave that up to the club and the AFL to work out but we’re really hoping we can get it later on.”
