Adam Thomson, Nathan Krakouer and Tom Logan have all been included in the final 22 for the round 5 clash.
Here’s Power General Manager – Football Operations Peter Rohde’s inside word on this week’s selection…
We’ve made three changes. Matty Thomas is obviously out with a foot injury and Paul Stewart and Danyle Pearce are also out.
Paul Stewart came into the team for the first time at the start of the year, he’s played all the practice matches, the four NAB Cup games and the first four games of the season, so he’s had 8 games at senior level. We’ve been pleased with his performance, but for a player coming in for the first time we think that he probably needs to go back to the SANFL and play four quarters, get his form back again and come back in to the team in the medium term. The make-up of the team will be better with one less defender and a bit more run at Subiaco.
Pearcey’s form hasn’t been the best over the first four weeks. He’s had some good periods here and there. In the last two NAB trial games he was probably amongst our best players, but the first four rounds of the season haven’t gone the way we wanted them to, and we probably think it’s in his best interest to go back to the SANFL and find his form.
Of the players coming into the team, Thomson has had three really good games in a row for Sturt. He’s been kicking goals, he’s been getting lots of possessions, and he’s really knocked the door down to get into the side.
Tommy played the first game of the year, he’s had one game at Glenelg, he missed one with the bye and one being 23rd man but his running capacity at Subiaco is a big bonus. He works really hard, he had a good game over there last year and we think he’s well suited to the game and the opposition.
We wanted to get ‘Krak’ back into the team. He’s played one reserves game and then two full games back in the SANFL, so he’s got his fitness up. We were very keen for him to play, especially being a West Australian boy and the game being at Subiaco. We think his kicking and speed will be important to us.
There were a few players close to getting the nod. Damon White, Greg Bentley and Nick Lower have all been in some pretty good form. Fabian Deluca’s form has also been good, he’s just waiting for an opportunity in the ruck.
There are a lot of players that have had some reasonable SANFL form and we don’t have many injuries so there are a few blokes putting their hands up. Adam Thomson has shown you’ve just got to keep being consistent in the SANFL to get your chance.
We think this team will match up well against the Eagles. They’ve made a few changes, but they haven’t finalised their team yet. We’re very wary of a few of their key players, but more than anything else this week, we just want to get over there and play our own game and not worry too much about the opposition.
The Power’s final 22 to face the Eagles, as named at 4.30pm on Friday, is as follows…
B: Michael Pettigrew, Alipate Carlile, Jacob Surjan
HB: Peter Burgoyne, Toby Thurstans, Dom Cassisi
C: Travis Boak, Chad Cornes, Kane Cornes
HF: David Rodan, Warren Tredrea, Brett Ebert
F: Daniel Motlop, Justin Westhoff, Brendon Lade
Foll: Dean Brogan, Steven Salopek, Shaun Burgoyne
Interchange: Troy Chaplin, Tom Logan, Nathan Krakouer, Adam Thomson
Emergencies: Danyle Pearce, Paul Stewart, Damon White
IN: Krakouer, Logan, Thomson
OUT: Thomas (foot), Pearce (omitted), Stewart (omitted)
