PORT Adelaide expects new ruck signing Brent Renouf to be a perfect foil for emerging big man Matthew Lobbe next season.
Power football operations manager Peter Rohde said opting for the Hawks' premiership player was a tough call after also considering Sydney Swan Mark Seaby.
Rohde also confirmed Port Adelaide was "very close" to getting a deal done that would see Brad Ebert join the Power from West Coast.
But it was Renouf he was most happy with, the Power securing him in exchange for pick no.33 in this year's NAB AFL National Draft.
"Matthew Lobbe played some pretty good footy for us in the second half of the year but with only one ruckman, invariably he got worn down," Rohde told afl.com.au's Trade Week Radio.
"We really feel as though we need two ruckmen to be able to share the load evenly to give our young midfield a chance.
"They're similar ages, [have] similar experience, [and] we think the two of them can come through together and be a really good combination for us.
"They can both go and play forward, Renouf has played back, so they've got flexibility as well."
Rohde said Port Adelaide interviewed and did medical testing on Seaby but eventually leant Renouf's way.
He praised the Swans during the process.
"We had to make a call and at the end of the day we had a couple of issues with Seabs' ankle injury from the year before that he's come back from," Rohde said.
"We weighed them up next to each other and we decided to go down the Renouf path."
Rohde said the likely deal to acquire Ebert would involve a number of clubs and if successful, would cap off a good week for the club.
"Our two aims (this week) were to secure Brad Ebert and get a more mature ruckman in, and we've done that, so we won't be doing too much more I don't think, but you never say never," he said.
No trades are official until paperwork has been accepted by the AFL and formally recognised after 2pm on Monday, October 17.
Follow our complete coverage of the 2011 AFL exchange period from October 10-17. Join the AFL trade conversation on Twitter: use #tradeweek in your tweets
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
