PORT ADELAIDE assistant coach Nathan Bassett addressed the media after the club’s final training session before its pre-season opener against Brisbane.

Here are the key takeaways from Bassett’s press conference:

Bassett on the inclusion of two young guns:

“It’s not my place to release the team right now, that will be done later this afternoon.

“Probably the two are Mitch (Georgiades) and Tobin (Cox) who will both get a game.

“Mitch has had a very good pre-season and deserves his opportunity. And Tobin has been a terrific young person in our footy club for the last 16 months and he deserves a chance as well.

Bassett on Mitch Georgiades:

“He’s still a bit of an unknown prospect.

“The internal trial was the first game he’s played since 2018, so this week is his first game against opposition for a long time.

“We are not super sure on what he’ll do, but he’s certainly been very promising at training and we are looking forward to seeing what it looks like in a match.

“He has great movement. Very agile. He jumps at the footy. We think he can add something in the air and he’s got some great legs to get up and back.

“Him, Todd (Marshall) and Charlie (Dixon) are working really nicely together.

“It would be nice to be able to play all of them come the start of the season.

Bassett on Tobin Cox:

“Tobin kicked 30 goals in 15 games, and I think it’s fair to say he’s a bit like an old-fashioned forward pocket.

“He is very crafty around goals. He’s got nice hands. He’s a very good mark for his size.

“He’s still working on his running power, but hadn’t played a lot of footy. He had shoulder problems before he came to us, so he’s still learning his way.

“He’s got some really nice football talent, and now it’s trying to get his athleticism up to a place where he can compete at AFL level.

Bassett on the Power’s forward line depth:

“I think we are really competitive in that area.

“We have Connor Rozee. We have Zak Butters. Mots (Steven Motlop) who’s been very good this pre-season. Sam Powell-Pepper has been spending more time through there. We’ve got Robbie (Gray) and Brad (Ebert). Cam Sutcliffe has been very good through there with Tobin as well.

“We have some reasonable depth in there. Those guys who were first-year players last year, should be better again second time round.

“Mots has probably been a standout from a high half forward perspective this pre-season. He’s been a very good AFL player in the past and we like to think he can get back to that very quickly.

Bassett on Steven Motlop:

“From the way he’s trained and the way he’s acted, he wants to play good footy for Port Adelaide.”

Bassett on Tobin Cox’s assets as a footballer:

“Tobin can be a bit more of a marking target.

“Robbie’s not playing this game and Tobin is the Robbie replacement. Clearly, he’s not going to do some of the things Robbie does, but he certainly adds some scoring power to the forward line.

“We’ve spoken to him about being a marking target and be good enough to get up and down and play that high half forward role.

“His attitude is great. He wants to get better. He engages with the coaches. And he tries his best all of the time.

Bassett on Ken Hinkley’s trip to the UK:

“I think it’s always good to be around other coaches in high performance fields.

“Eddie Jones is certainly that, so for Ken and Matty Lokan to get to spend a week there and see what it’s like, in terms of their preparation for quite a big game for them this week, is great for them to see and experience it.

Bassett on Jack Watts:

“Wattsy will be a chance.

“He’s still working through that ankle and trying to get together a good chunk of training. It does take a while to get back from the injury he had.

“It can take 12-18 months to feel comfortable again post injury. You will have days where it will feel good and other days where it doesn’t feel as good.

“He will be close to selection.

Bassett on Trent McKenzie:

“Trent (McKenzie) has been really good. He finished the year really well last year.

“He would’ve got more opportunities but he was a little bit injured late last year. He did play the last round for us.

“There is certainly an opportunity to play that seventh defender spot which is up for grabs in our side.

“He’s an experienced player with some good assets. He deserves his opportunity.

Bassett on the expectations from pre-season games:

“Playing well is important and we get two good opportunities before the season starts.

“We think we’ve had some good growth during pre-season. There haven’t been any radical changes, just some minor adjustments to what we do.

“We are getting much better and consistent actions on the training track, which we saw in last week’s internal trial.

“We would like to see that flow into an opposition who is very good who finished at the top end of the ladder last year.

Bassett on Miles Bergman’s minor ankle injury:

“Miles (Bergman) has picked up a minor ankle tweak.

“He could miss 1-2. I think there is a good chance he will miss the under 23s game next week.

“It’s nothing major.