THE PRESSURE for spots in Port Adelaide’s team is as intense as Tom Jonas can remember, and he’s warning his teammates there's no time to take it easy in the NAB Challenge.
 
The Power will take on West Coast at Norwood Oval on Sunday afternoon in their opening pre-season game.
 
Jonas, a member of Port's leadership group, arrived at Alberton as a rookie in 2011, having previously played for Norwood as a junior.
 
The 24-year-old has cemented his place in the Power's best 22 under Ken Hinkley but said the fight for spots in a side tipped to challenge for the 2015 premiership was the most fierce he had seen.
 
Premiership points aren't up for grabs on Sunday but Jonas said the players selected for the NAB Challenge clash would have to treat the game like it was the real thing.
 
 "There's so much pressure from below. I can think of half a dozen names of blokes that are ready to go should blokes be in poor form or if they were unlucky enough to have an injury," Jonas said.
 
"I'm definitely not embedded [in the starting side] by any means, at least not in my own mind.
 
"There's definitely no resting on our laurels."
 
While it will be Port's first game against an opposition club this year, the Eagles have two under their belt – with wins against the Indigenous All Stars and Carlton.
 
The Power trained in match-like conditions last Friday and, although scores weren't kept, the intensity was similar to that of a NAB Challenge game.
 
Jonas believed that would be enough to ensure they could equal West Coast's level of match fitness at The Parade.
 
"They will probably feel like they've blown some of the cobwebs out but we feel that playing against ourselves we've had a really tough test and we'll go out there and set the bar high and take it to them," he said.
 
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