The Power have copped some criticism over their ability to play contested footy is the wake of the 68-point loss to the Swans in Sydney last week.
Most of the heat has fallen on the midfield, but Thurstans was confident the club’s ruck and onball brigade could give the Power an advantage over Adelaide this weekend.
“I think our rucks stocks are an advantage. We would like to get Ladey and Brogan on top early and for them to combine well with our midfield,” he said.
“We have got a really good midfield – a gun midfield – and if we can get the ball to our forward line quickly, I think that could be an area we could try and expose against Adelaide.
“We have the belief within the club that we have the right mix of midfielders in our team that can do the job week-in and week-out. Obviously, some weeks we’re going to have up days and others will down days, so hopefully this week we’ll be up.”
On Sunday Thurstans was part of a young Port Adelaide defence that struggled to contain the Swans forwards, largely because of what he called a “lack of discipline across the board”.
This week the Power defenders will be pitted against an Adelaide attack that has scored 40 goals in the opening two games of the season.
The 27-year-old said it was important supporters remained patient with the inexperienced defence and that the club continued to “back” its younger players against seasoned opponents like Crow forwards Simon Goodwin and Brett Burton.
“We’ve got a young group of players in Alipate Carlile, Jacob Surjan and Troy Chaplin and these guys are going to be around for 10 years, but they’re not going to get it right straight away,” he said.
“We probably won’t approach Sunday’s game any differently [to any other game against the Crows]. Obviously they have thrown a bit more experience in their forward line because, I guess, losing Roo land Scott Welsh left a bit of a hole up there.”
Thurstans, who is only 15 games shy of the 100 milestone, remained tight-lipped when asked which player would stand Goodwin, who booted seven goals against West Coast last week.
“Goodwin played one of the better games I’ve seen by an individual last weekend and it’s going to be a tough match-up,” he said.
“We’ll have to re-jig things a bit, but we’re going to put the faith in our young guys to have a crack at players like Goodwin because they aren’t going to become better AFL players playing in the SANFL.
“You need to give the young guys the belief and give them the big jobs so they become good players.”
Port Adelaide hasn’t hit the panic button despite a 0-2 start, but Thurstans said it was important his team got a win on the board this week.
“In the first two rounds a lot of teams are still running new game plans and settling into the competition,” he said.
“But between rounds three and six, it can really bring a great divide between the top eight and the bottom eight.
“Not only do we need to get a win to stay in touch with the teams up the top, but it would be good for our confidence, our development and it would, hopefully, allow us to get a bit of a run-on.
“We look forward to these Showdown weeks and the intensity of the game will bring the best out of the players.”
