PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has confirmed defender Tom Jonas will miss his side’s game against the Western Bulldogs tomorrow night.

Jonas will miss out with a minor hamstring complaint suffered in the first quarter of last Friday’s win over reigning premiers Richmond.

“Clearly it wasn’t that bad that he couldn’t (play on) and if you watched Tommy play you wouldn’t have picked up on it,” Hinkley said.

“Even I didn’t and it was only late in the next day or so that we realised Tommy’s a bit aware of his hamstring.

“He’s done some little damage, hopefully it’s only a short-term thing but with any hamstring you’re one to three weeks away.

“Hopefully for us it’s only one week.”

Jonas has been superb in leading a young and inexperienced backline this season.

He is third in the competition for marks, having played one game fewer than leader Luke Ryan from Fremantle, and is also ranked seventh in the league for spoils.

“Tommy is an incredibly important piece of our back six, we understand that,” Hinkley said.

“He’ll be back out there as soon as he’s ready but the young blokes who’ve been back down there have been really strong, they’ll work really hard and great together.”

Hinkley also said forwards Jack Watts and Jake Neade have been omitted.

Jack Hombsch will replace Jonas while Lindsay Thomas and Todd Marshall will return - the latter after compassionate leave following the death of his father - after impressing in the SANFL.

“Their form has been really strong and obviously there comes a point where great form – we like to reward a winning team, everyone knows that me – but there’s a point where you also need to reward the form underneath.

“Everyone knows Todd Marshall is an exciting young player, he’s had some unfortunate stuff to deal with, personal tragedies, but as soon as he was available we’re gonna want him back in the side.

“Now you can’t fit everyone in, it’s as simple as that.”

He said Watts still had a role to play for the team, but needed to get some form in the SANFL.

“Jack knows his form hasn’t been at the level he would like it to be and he understands the reasons for it,” Hinkley said.

“We still want Jack as part of our side, we brought Jack here for that reason to help us and he will help us a lot.

“He goes back and plays well, if he plays well he forces his way back in.”

The 14th placed Bulldogs are coming off a bye and three straight losses, but Hinkley is expecting a difficult encounter in trying conditions, with rain forecast.

“The Bulldogs are going to come and they’ve been able to cause problems for other teams,” Hinkley said.

“We’re desperate to do well.

“Conditions are going to make it a real slog so you’re going to have to be the hardest working team and the strongest team in the competition tomorrow night.

“For us it’s about what we do… it’s always about what we do and we want to see some unconditional effort.”

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