As expected Peter Burgoyne (hamstring) and Steven Salopek (Achilles) have not recovered in time from injuries sustained last weekend, while Travis Boak (groin) and Chad Cornes (calf) have also been forced out with ailments.
Damon White, who will play his 50th AFL game this weekend, headlines seven inclusions to the Power’s side to tackle the Bulldogs on Saturday night in Darwin.
Strong SANFL form has been rewarded, with four of this year’s Cibo Glenelg SANFL Player of the Week winners being included in the team. Four players are playing their first AFL game of the season.
Here’s Power General Manager – Football Operations Peter Rohde’s inside word on a big week at the selection table…
We’ve made a number of changes this week, most of them forced, but we’ll have Peter Burgoyne, Chad Cornes, Steven Salopek and Travis Boak out – all injured – and Matty Thomas suspended. As well as that, we’ve got Brendon Lade and Michael Wilson going back to the SANFL.
Wilbur and Ladey are two greats of this club, but they’ve been struggling for form a bit over the past few weeks. We feel as though they need to spend some time in the SANFL to get their form back.
We’ve got Bentley, Deluca, Lonie, Stewart, Thomson, Westhoff and White coming into the side. They’ve all shown strong SANFL form.
Lonie and White have had a solid past month for North Adelaide, Thomson and Bentley have been in Sturt’s best regularly, Justin Westhoff kicked three goals last week for Central, Paul Stewart has recovered from a neck injury and Deluca has had a great month after being dropped to the reserves five or six weeks ago. Over the second half of the year, were hoping to find out where some of these guys are at.
We’re hoping Salopek, Cornes and Burgoyne will all be available after the break, but Boak may take an extra week or two with some groin tightness. He’s had it for a while but it’s flared up this week, so the week off is a good chance to get that right. Chad’s knee and finger have been causing him some problems, but they’re both getting better. It’s his calf that is keeping him out this week.
Marlon Motlop, who was recruited from the Northern Territory, will be the travelling emergency.
The Power’s final 22 to face the Bulldogs, as named at 4.30pm on Thursday, is as follows…
B: Michael Pettigrew, Alipate Carlile, Nick Lower
HB:Tom Logan, Troy Chaplin, Nathan Lonie
C: Domenic Cassisi, Adam Thomson, Kane Cornes
HF: David Rodan, Warren Tredrea, Brett Ebert
F: Justin Westhoff, Daniel Motlop, Robbie Gray
Foll: Dean Brogan, Shaun Burgoyne, Danyle Pearce
Interchange: Greg Bentley, Fabian Deluca, Paul Stewart, Damon White
Emergencies: Marlon Motlop, Jacob Surjan, Adam Cockshell
IN: White, Thomson, Deluca, Stewart, Lonie, Bentley, Westhoff
OUT: Peter Burgoyne (hamstring), Steven Salopek (Achilles), Travis Boak (groin), Chad Cornes (calf), Matt Thomas (suspension), Brendon Lade, Michael Wilson (omitted).
