PORT ADELAIDE senior assistant coach Michael Voss has backed his side’s midfield depth to cover any absence during the season of the injured Ollie Wines and the departures of Jared Polec and Chad Wingard.
Wines dislocated his shoulder this week and had surgery, which will sideline him until early in the season.
Polec and Wingard were traded to North Melbourne and Hawthorn respectively.
Voss says the Power has a wealth of midfield experience playing in different positions and some new talent that can step up, including Hawthorn recruit Ryan Burton and some new draftees.
“We’ve got some younger players that we drafted this year are really putting a strong foot forward,” Voss said during an interview on Adelaide radio program Sportsday SA.
“That doesn’t mean that we’re sitting here saying Round 1 they’ll play, but we’ve had some really good starts from some of our younger players that have come in.
“And we’ve also had some depth in other areas so Travis Boak has played in that area, clearly Brad Ebert, Sam Gray’s come through that area at times so I think when we look at a midfield group, we’ve got to look beyond the normal four or five.
“We’ve certainly got expertise in other areas that have played in other areas so we’ll have to call on that to add to our flexibility.”
Wines was injured while water skiing last Saturday, causing debate among supporters and the media about whether players should be allowed to take part in such recreational activities.
Voss said players spend a lot of time training hard and needed outlets for their mental wellbeing.
“We’ve got to be really conscious that they’ve got lives outside of that,” he said.
“The environment he was in and the expertise he has in that area, you know, we’re very comfortable with where he’s at.
“As a general discussion, if you even go past the Ollie stuff, we move into mental health and we talk about balance of life.
“It’s a really important subject and we’re certainly really keen that we make sure we support our players in that area.”
