This story originally appeared on afl.com.au.

PORT ADELAIDE gun Chad Wingard is likely to miss "a couple of games" after suffering a left hamstring injury. 

The versatile midfielder-forward took a mark inside 50 late in Port Adelaide's 33-point win over North Melbourne and felt his hamstring as if he had cramp

Wingard went back and kicked the goal, but slowly walked off the field afterwards

"I think he's done a hamstring, pretty simple. He's had issues with his other leg at the start of the year," Port coach Ken Hinkley said. 

"Chad's history of hamstrings [is] normally [that] they're not too bad. I suspect he'll miss a couple of games. 

"When you're at that stage of the game, you're not sure if you're cramping or not. So you go back and take the kick, and the kick confirmed to him he'd done it. Luckily enough the kick went through." 

In better news for the Power, ruckman Paddy Ryder is expected to return from an Achilles injury next week against West Coast. Ryder has effectively played just two quarters this season after injuring himself halfway through the round one match against Fremantle. 

It's left Port with a rotating cast of key forwards through the ruck, with Charlie Dixon performing well against veteran big man Todd Goldstein. 

Asked if Ryder would come straight into AFL team, rather than build match fitness in the SANFL, Hinkley was quick to reply. 

"You got that right," he said with a laugh. 

"All Australian ruckman, I'm not going to waste too much time. He's coming in. 

"We've seen what Nic Naitanui's been able to do coming back into [West Coast from a knee reconstruction] and Paddy is a bit similar for us, he gives us enormous amount of drive, not just in the ruck, but around the ground." 

It was a very difficult week for the club off the field, with Todd Marshall's father passing away, Hamish Hartlett tearing his ACL, Lindsay Thomas sent straight to the Tribunal for rough conduct against Scott Selwood and Sam Powell-Pepper's penalty for inappropriate conduct decided. 

"I'm proud of the team. It's a tough a week as you get in a footy club, and that's what footy clubs do, they hang together," Hinkley said. 

"For Toddy (Marshall) and his family, tragic Tuesday. The boys see Todd, they love him and they understand he's going to be really hurting. They go through that then they see Hamish (Hartlett) in the last 30 seconds of training.

"It felt a bit like the world was ganging up on us, and to their credit, I said to them they stuck together today and ganged up back. They had a real crack and played good footy."