NEW recruit Tom Rockliff may not have played a game for Port Adelaide yet, but he is ready to sing the club song if the side beats Fremantle in its opening game of the 2018 AFL Premiership Season on Saturday.

The ex-Brisbane Lions captain didn’t feature in the Power’s pre-season games because of knee soreness but he has been declared a certain starter as long as he gets through training on Thursday.

“I have been practising (the club song) a bit at home,” he told portadelaidefc.com.au.

“(My partner) Sharna and I have got the lyrics up trying to sing it to (son) Jack so that he can sing it when he starts, so I’m trying to learn the song just in case we win this week.”

Rockliff joined the club on a four-year deal in the 2017 free agency period, after 154 games with the Lions.

The 28-year-old has admitted an injury-interrupted pre-season has left him frustrated, but he said he was ready and raring to don the black, white and teal for the first time against the Dockers.

“Obviously the last couple of weeks haven’t been ideal in terms of preparation, you’d like to play, but the body feels fine and I am ready to go,” he said.

“I think the frustrating thing for me was not having the chance to play with the boys and obviously coming into a new club, a new system, a new environment you want to see it under game pressure.

“The good thing is we’ve done a lot of match simulation since Christmas but obviously against other opposition I haven’t done that, so I’m looking forward to getting out there and having a run.”

Rockliff said watching his side from the stand made him realise the playing style and system holds up, and he said he was excited that the club now had various good avenues to goal, especially through Charlie Dixon, Robbie Gray and Melbourne recruit Jack Watts.

He also said he was not concerned about his lack of matches in the lead-in to the season.

“I have done some extra match simulation,” he said of his efforts to be fit and firing for Round 1.

“When we played the Crows I probably could have played but we thought it was a better option to do a controlled session and I probably ended up doing more running in that Saturday morning session than I would have done in a game anyway, so from that point of view I go in full of confidence.”

He said he was “a bit toey” about making his Port Adelaide debut, but was focussed on having a positive start to the season.

“It’s going to be a real challenge for us against Freo, they played really well against West Coast in their last JLT game,” he said.

“So it’s going to be a really good contest and one we’re looking forward to.”

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