PORT ADELAIDE is hopeful history will repeat at TIO Stadium in Darwin on Saturday night against the Western Bulldogs.

Coach Mark Williams has already indicated he will make a number of changes to the team this week, expected to include a handful of impressive youngsters.

The last time the Power embarked down the path of developing youth was in 2006 when, in round 19, the Power came from 17 points down at three-quarter time to upstage the highly-fancied Doggies, also in Darwin.

Since that day, players like Troy Chaplin, Matt Thomas and Michael Pettigrew have become household names and enigmatic forward Daniel Motlop was confident the Power could unearth some more talent this week.

“We’ve got a lot of young boys playing in the SANFL who are playing real good footy. Damon White and Adam Thomson are two that are playing real good footy, so it will be good for the team,” Motlop said.

“Fabs [Fabian Deluca] is another one in line with Dean Brogan and Brendon Lade. Hopefully, he can come in and play real well.

“The older blokes at the club probably feel threatened because we’ve got a few younger blokes coming in, which is going to make it a bit more exciting this week.

“And last time we did it [brought in young players] against the Bulldogs up there we won.”

The senior players under threat include All-Australian ruckman Brendon Lade.

Williams has expressed his desire to try Deluca, who impressed during the Power’s NAB Cup campaign, and his promotion could come at Lade’s expense.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen with those [the older] guys. If they train well today they’ll play, so it will make for a good training session.”

Skipper Warren Tredrea was a noticeable absentee from main training on Wednesday, completing the warm-up before heading indoors. Tom Logan, rookie Nick Salter and brothers Chad and Kane Cornes also had modified sessions.

Peter Burgoyne walked laps with his sore hamstring, but there was better news concerning defender Toby Thurstans, who appeared on the mend, jogging laps without a brace on his injured knee.

The Power have already ruled out Peter Burgoyne, Matt Thomas (suspension) and Steve Salopek (achilles) for this week’s game, but someone forgot to tell Motlop about the latter.

“What happened to him [Salopek]? Is he out for the year?” Motlop asked when questioned about the loss of the 23-year-old.

“I enjoy Sal’s [Salopek’s] presence because he kicks it into me and he has one of the best disposals in the league. It’s going to hurt us a little bit, but we’ve got other guys that can come in and do the job as well.”