PORT ADELAIDE will take a cautious approach with All-Australian ruckman Paddy Ryder, despite a scan revealing a low-level hip flexor strain suffered in the loss to Fremantle in Round 17.

Ryder limped off just before half time against the Dockers and senior coach Ken Hinkley told FIVEaa’s Rowey and Bicks the club will take no risks with its star big man.

“You’ve got to be very careful with a hip flexor strain,” he said.

“It’s at the low-level but he’s a big man who relies on jumping and doing what he needs to do.

“It’s good that it’s not significant damage on the scan but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to transfer that into the ability to return quickly.

“We’ll be very cautious and very careful with that, so from our point of view we are hopeful that he won’t be out for too long but we won’t rule out anything yet.”

Port was forced to cover Ryder’s absence at the start of the season and Hinkley believes the combination of Charlie Dixon and Justin Westhoff will be an effective option for the team again.

But the 51-year-old did admit the ruck situation will be a decision made on a game-to-game basis.

“We’ve had practice unfortunately, we’ve had six weeks of practice in this space - it’s just one we have to work with,” he said.

“It will depend on the teams that we play and this week we come up against the big fella Dawson Simpson who’s a really big man.

“Charlie (Dixon) is probably our first thought when we think about who best matches up against him but we will obviously use the same two blokes that we used when Paddy was out for the first six rounds of the year.

“It will probably be a bit game-dependant.”

The Power will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak to the Giants when the two teams meet at Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon.

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