Exclusive NAB Challenge Coverage
The Power recalled injured trio Travis Boak, Robbie Gray and Jay Schulz for their clash with Richmond at Alice Springs on Friday night, but Brogan was left out of the team after injuring his back at training.
As the only experienced ruckman on Port Adelaide's list, Brogan is considered vital to his team's chances of returning to the top eight this season and Primus said he was confident the 32-year-old would be fit to play next week.
"Dean would've played tonight, but he hurt his back a little bit last Friday. It was nothing serious, just a tweak and a bit of old age," Primus said on Friday.
"We just thought it could cause him trouble travelling on the day of the game and we're probably going to play next Friday here [in Adelaide], so the turnaround to get back [is short].
"We'll give him a good training session next week and then he'll be right by Friday."
Boak, Gray and Schulz will be eased back to full fitness, with their game time set to increase over the next three weeks.
Brogan, Hamish Hartlett (hamstring), Steven Salopek (knee), Jason Davenport (shoulder) and Brett Ebert (virus) should all be available for selection next week.
In all, 12 Port Adelaide players had surgery in the off-season and Primus said the club's main focus for the remainder of the NAB Challenge would be preparing those players for the start of the season proper.
"We've got three players back tonight and we'll probably have another five next week, so it's going to be about managing their game time and getting their fitness levels up for round one and the rest of the season," Primus said.
"We're pretty comfortable about the amount of work we've done before we started playing. In saying, that we wouldn't like to have any more hiccups over the next four or five weeks.
"They'll get a minimum of two games and for some of them three [games] and we can also play them in the SANFL in that week off [before round one]."
Port Adelaide marked its trip to Alice Springs on Friday with the kick-off of the Aboriginal Power Cup.
The Aboriginal Power Cup aims to engage Aboriginal students through sport and encourages them to continue with their schooling and make positive lifestyle choices.
The program culminates with a football carnival at Alberton Oval in June.
Primus said he was pleased the State Government had committed to funding the initiative for a further three years.
"It's the fourth year the Aboriginal Power Cup has been up and going now," he said.
"We've had a lot of indigenous talent play for us over the years. We want to get them involved in football because football's a great leveller.
"It's a great thing that the club and Santos are doing and hopefully we might be able to sneak a few of the guys through the draft in the next couple of years.
