PORT Adelaide is hopeful star midfielder Hamish Hartlett will be fit for round one after he was subbed out of Sunday's NAB Challenge win over West Coast at quarter time.
Hartlett twinged his groin while kicking out of defence in the first quarter and headed to the bench to ice the injury.
He was seen walking around Port's interchange area late in the game.
The moment Hamish Hartlett suffered a groin injury in Port Adelaide's 40-point win over West Coast #NABChallenge http://t.co/uBECUqqjul
— AFL (@AFL) March 8, 2015
The 24-year-old has a long history with hamstring injuries but has found his fitness over the past two seasons in which he's played 44 of his 90 AFL games.
While any injury at this stage of the pre-season is far from perfect, stand-in Power coach Matthew Nicks was optimistic Hartlett would only miss a week.
Hartlett will undergo precautionary scans on Tuesday.
"I just had a chat to Hamish and he's in pretty good spirits actually," Nicks said after the match.
"Obviously it's not ideal for him and his preparation but he seems to think he won't be out of the game for long.
"It was during a kick ... just a little scar tissue tweak.
"Fingers crossed it's only a week or two."
The club's reigning best and fairest Robbie Gray was superb against the Eagles, finishing with 28 possessions and three goals.
Port's poetry in motion ends in a Robbie Gray goal #NABChallenge http://t.co/sHLtEFyxhX
— AFL (@AFL) March 8, 2015
His teammates have insisted this summer that the midfielder was ready to take his game to yet another level, and his performance on Sunday justified their predictions.
Nicks echoed their thoughts.
"There's a lot of areas where he can get better again. He's got some incredible talent and he's now learned how to work hard so you're seeing results," he said.
"He's had an outstanding pre-season and off-season. It's just now flowed into the first game."