Two players will make their AFL debut in Port Adelaide’s Opening Round clash while another duo will make their first appearances for the Power.
The club’s final 22 for Sunday’s 4.10pm clash with St Kilda was finalised on Friday, with ruckman Jarrad Redden and top draft pick Chad Wingard named to play their first ever games. West Coast recruit Brad Ebert and former Collingwood midfielder John McCarthy will don the black, white and teal for the first time.
Tom Logan, Aaron Young and Darren Pfeiffer were named in an initial 25-man squad, but are now emergencies for the game. Young is expected to play for North Adelaide in the SANFL, while only one of Logan or Pfeiffer will be held back as cover for the Power.
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Assistant coach Brad Gotch told PortAdelaideFC.com.au the playing group had made selection challenging because of their encouraging pre-season preparation and NAB Cup hit-outs.
“It was really difficult and there’s a good number of players unlikely to be lining up on Sunday,” Gotch said.
Logan - who played 20 games in 2011 - missed out narrowly due to the impressive form of the Power’s smaller defenders in games leading up to the season proper.
“Someone like a Ben Jacobs has stepped up a bit in that position and Danyle Pearce has gone back and showed a great deal,” said Gotch, the Power’s backline line mentor.
“And then you’ve got Jacob Surjan who was probably our best defender in the last game (48-point victory over Melbourne).”
“Tommy is very realistic. He understands fully where he fits and being the person he is, he’s taken it fully on the chin and is looking forward to … getting back in and you won’t get him out. That’s what his words were, which is great.”
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Young narrowly missed an opportunity to play his first AFL game after impressing with two goals when he cane on as a substitute in the victory over Melbourne.
The 19-year-old forward prospect had an outstanding pre-season following his first full year on the Power list.
“Aaron should feel very excited to make the 25 at this stage coming from where he came from last year,” Gotch said.
“He showed a lot during the pre-season, he had a big pre-season. He’s in that stage where he’s just on the verge of getting an opportunity or not.
“With our forward line reasonably strong and the fact we think the taller players are going to play a pretty important role, he just misses out this week. But we’ve been very pleased with his last three weeks, including two games with the Power and one game back in the SANFL.”
After being upgraded from the Rookie list, Pfeiffer was overlooked due to the return to form and fitness of the experienced David Rodan and Matthew Thomas.
“Darren is a bit stiff really because .. Rodan and Thomas just timed their runs a little bit better,” Gotch said.
Thomas’s pre-season was severely interrupted by his recovery from a knee injury, but his elite fitness level saw him quickly back into action in the SANFL and then with the Power.
“Thomas has only played the one (NAB Cup) game plus two games at SANFL, so he’s just timed it perfectly and being a bit more of a seasoned player - knowing what we’ve seen out of him, and knowing it’s going to be a hard game - we just felt he was probably better served to play against St Kilda,” Gotch said.
The experienced Rodan has bounced back from a niggling injury, in time for Round One.
“David had a sensational pre-season until the last few weeks when he just got a couple of little setbacks, but he came and trained this week and trained the house down.
“We just felt with Robbie Gray not playing, we probably need Rodan’s quick steps and attacking style of play and he can probably break open a game and have some real impact with his maturity. He’s been around for a long time.”
Pfeiffer - who is at his third AFL club - has demonstrated the resilience needed to ensure he will get an earlier opportunity back at elite level.
“He would have been rapt to be in the 25 coming from being a rookie upgrade to going into the first round,” Gotch said.
“To be in the 25 is a pretty big step. We have acknowledged that he’s done a pretty good job, but he’s got to be a little bit patient when you’ve got some more experienced players that have come into form in the last couple of weeks.”
See the final 22 here
