THE POWER’S biggest weapon in 2007 will be an even bigger strength this year according to star midfielder Shaun Burgoyne.

Last year Burgoyne and company blitzed opposition sides with dashing run all over the field and now, with the addition of a few more speedsters, the vice-captain says the team is even quicker.

Marlon Motlop is one draftee that 25-year-old Burgoyne believes is capable of helping the Power move up another gear in 2008.

“At the moment Marlon’s probably the standout [of the draftees],” Burgoyne said.

“He’s probably a bit more developed than the other draftees. Two of the others [Matt Lobbe and Matt Westhoff] are tall, key forwards who are probably a bit underdone with their physical conditioning to play.

“Marlon’s a smart player as well, so we might see him get a game this year.”

The similarities between Marlon and his cousin, enigmatic Power forward Daniel, became evident from day one when the duo took the field before training to practice their banana kicks from the boundary line.

“Marlon’s just like Daniel, it runs in the Motlop blood,” Burgoyne laughed.

“He’s pretty exciting and has a lot of speed. He’s got great skills, he’s a pretty good kick and a good decision maker too.

“He’s only small, but we saw Nathan Krakouer and Justin Westhoff, who are lightly-built players too, play last year. I think you can get away with playing under sized as long as you have a bit of speed about you, which Marlon has.

“The younger players coming through this year, like Marlon, are very quick as well. We had a quick team last year and we’re going to be even quicker again this year.”

Burgoyne jogged laps of the oval to finish training on Friday and watched as his teammates laid crunching tackles in an attempt to secure a spot for the upcoming NAB Cup game against Carlton.

With a few senior players including Peter Burgoyne (shoulder) and Michael Wilson (achilles) set to miss the pre-season competition, the younger Burgoyne said coach Mark Williams was looking to trial a few of the club’s younger players.

“There are a few senior players who have had late starts to the pre-season just in terms of their conditioning work, so I think we’ll see a lot more younger players get a go in the NAB Cup and get a chance to prove they can play at this level,” Burgoyne said.

“The guys that we saw make an impact last year like Travis Boak, Justin Westhoff and Robbie Gray are all coming into their second year and they’ll be looking to stamp their authority on a place in the team.

“Choco was licking his lips watching the young blokes smashing into each other today and that’s the type of stuff that impresses the coaches and gets you a game.”

Burgoyne, who is recovering from hamstring and quad complaints, said he was looking forward to further developing his already match-winning game.

“I’m coming into my eighth year now and when you come to training and see the young guys and the enthusiasm they show and the want they have to improve, it catches on.

“Everyone wants to feed off that energy and I’m no different. Every year you want to develop and get better individually and it goes along way towards the team improving.

“The reason why we improved so much last year was because of the development of our younger players. You pretty much know what you’re going to get with your senior players, so the big difference comes with the younger guys.

“They probably slipped under the guard a little bit last year, as a lot of younger guys do when they first come out to play. Now, it's up to us senior guys to help them out because we’ve all been through the same thing, but those guys are well aware of the challenges ahead of them.”