PORT ADELAIDE has one certainty this week - a round 20 clash with top-eight rival Greater Western Sydney.
The fixture venue will not be Canberra, as listed. The AFL is expected late on Monday to declare the game will go ahead at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast or give Port Adelaide its third consecutive match at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne's west Docklands.
Port Adelaide midfield coach Jarrad Schofield expects the squad to remain in Melbourne, regardless of the anticipated change to the South Australian lockdown from midnight on Tuesday.
"It is a bit unsure at the moment; all I can say is that we will be playing GWS," Schofield said before a team recovery session in Melbourne on Monday.
"It could be here in Melbourne. It could be on the Gold Coast where GWS is situated.
"We will plan to play GWS (venue and timeslot to be confirmed).
"Our understanding is we will be here (in Melbourne) for most of the week. We will treat it as any other week in Adelaide. The positive is we are around each other and we are learning from each other more as a playing and coaching group.
"We are prepared for whatever comes our way."
Port Adelaide president David Koch has expressed his pride in how the team has performed in keeping a top-four ranking while challenged to leave Alberton amid a lockdown in South Australia.
"We're not taking it one week at a time - we are taking it one day at a time," Koch said. "We are scrambling to play where we need to play.
"It is a huge credit to Chris Davies, our football general manager, and (senior coach) Ken (Hinkley) and our entire teams. They don't whinge. Like last year (when the hub was in south-east Queensland), there is no whinging; they just get on with it. They treat it like an adventure. They just move with the times.
"That is the culture they have built internally and they are incredibly proud of their work."
Port Adelaide reported no injury from its 28-point AFL win against Collingwood during Travis Boak's 300-game milestone celebration on Friday night. But the injury jinx continued in the competitive training sessions with rival AFL outfits on Saturday in Melbourne.
First-year defender Lachie Jones is dealing with his second major ankle injury of the season and ruckman Sam Hayes dislocated a finger.
"Lachie looks like he has tweaked an ankle, so we will get him assessed (on Monday)," Schofield said of the fall-out from the productive game simulation set up while excess players were unable to work in the SANFL.
"But other guys returning - such as Orazio Fantasia (knee) - has a nice little run around and got through okay. I don't want to put a timeframe on it, but the positive is in 12 days Orazio has gone from not running to actually training and covering the ground well. It is now about how he pulls up from session to session. We are excited about the prospects of Orazio possibly playing this week or the following week.
"For us, it is about making sure we get the right amount of work into him so that he is game ready.
"Robbie Gray (knee) is tracking really well. He is up and running at a lower level. He is out of the brace, so he is progressing really well."
Port Adelaide introduced the three tyros - Connor Rozee, Xavier Duursma and Zak Butters - against Collingwood. All three, who were resuming after recovering from differing knee injuries, have passed the physical test.
"From all reports, they have pulled up well," Schofield said. "We saw glimpses of why they are such talented players and why they are so important to our side. But we also saw that they have missed a fair amount of football.
"We saw great upside in having them out there all together. They definitely add to our side, as we all know. They showed signs that they will be better for the run."
Two notable gains from the win against Collingwood were the midfield power of Willem Drew and the goalscoring power of support ruckman Peter Ladhams (two goals).
"The one thing about Willem is he has been able to be flexible in his roles," Schofield said. "He has had defensive roles playing in midfield positions; on the weekend he was freed up. The easy option would have been to put Willem onto (Collingwood vice-captain) Taylor Adams early in the first half. We made a call to put our vice-captain and one of the favourites for the Brownlow Medal (Ollie Wines) to run with or to play with more reference to Adams. Ollie in the end had 22 possessions in the second half.
"It allowed Willem to free up and go play and as he did, he definitely stepped up. In Ollie's and Travis' quieter moment, he was able to step up and be our No.1 clearance player," added Schofield of Drew who had 32 disposals and 17 contested possessions that included eight clearances.
"Peter Ladhams showed he has some real talent and forward craft when he gets it right as a forward. There is a lot of upside in what we are seeing from a guy who has played 20-odd games of AFL footy. He is progressing every time he is stepping foot on the park in Port Adelaide colours.
"It is exciting for us to know that Peter is not just a back-up ruckman (to Scott Lycett). He is actually developing his forward craft."
