Power rookie Nathan Batsanis has impressed for the Eagles reserves in the local league over the past month. This week he was given an opportunity in their league side and well and truly made the most of it, to be named the Power SANFL Player of the Week.

Power development coach Darren Trevena was happy with the way Batsanis stepped up.

“He adapted to playing league footy, but there’s still a long way to develop to be consistent at that level. There are a lot of areas we’re trying to improve on him and if he keeps going this way he’ll get better and better,” Trevena said.

“In the last three weeks he had around 30 or 40 possessions in the reserves each week. He got his opportunity and grabbed it.

“He covered the ground fairly well, he could look a little more urgent out there but he’s looking ok. He played half forward and kicked 4 goals 1, with his point hitting the post.

“He needs to do this week in week out. He earned more respect as the game went on.”

The Power had another 16 players in the SANFL on the weekend (a very healthy number) and, as he does every week, Trevena gave us his thoughts on all of them…

Brad Symes (Centrals)
“Solid again, he worked hard and is putting pressure on the senior guys to perform.”

Justin Westhoff (Centrals)
“He’s presenting well and making some opportunities. He had five shots on goal and will get better. The smaller ground (at Norwood) made it hard to present.”

Jonathan Giles (Centrals)
“He played in the ruck and off the bench. His centre work was quite good. He gave his teammates first use of the ball and worked well around the ground. It was a good first game back from injury.”

Nick Lower (Norwood)
“He was quite good. He’s been playing on the key back player. He’s been doing a very good job in working off. We’re looking forward to Nick playing on the best small forward, rather than a key position player to give him his best opportunity to keep putting pressure on the guys in the Power side.”

Adam Cockshell (Norwood)
“He had two opportunities early and missed them which was probably his story of the night. He probably had an average game for his standards and we’re looking for bigger things this week.”

Hugh Minson (Norwood reserves)
“He played ruck and forward and kicked two goals. He rucked quite well and got his hand to the ball. He’s pushing for senior selection.”

Ryan Williams (Centrals reserves)
“He was solid and ran well from the back line. I thought it was his best game that he has played and he’s getting confidence.”

Gavin Grose (North Adelaide reserves)
“Gavin had a very good game and an excellent last quarter. He got among their best but probably needs to string a few more games together to push for senior selection. It’s good to see him in a positive frame of mind.”

Alex Lee (Sturt reserves)
“Nick Gill was coming back from injury for the Crows and Alex lined up on him. He was pretty good at ground level and had a reasonably solid game.”

Fabian Deluca (Sturt)
“His first quarter was fantastic. He took lots of marks and won the hit outs. He fell away over the four quarters though.”

Adam Thomson (Sturt)
“He had good intensity and got first use of the ball. He missed a couple of targets that he normally hits. Overall it was a solid game.”

Peter Hardy (Sturt)
“He got a run-with role off the wing. He was quite good at times. He did some impressive things and looks like he could do a run-with role in the future.”

Robbie Gray (West Adelaide)
“Robbie was good again, not quite like previous weeks. He was very good in close and his stoppage work is excellent. He is very clean and brings other players into the game with his short handballs. He kicked 1.1.

Ryan Willits (West Adelaide)
“He presented well, but just dropped a few marks he should have taken which probably pulled down his overall game. He’s just looking for some consistency in coming weeks.”

Paul Stewart (Eagles)
“Paul played well off the backlines. He ran the ball out well and played well on both tall and small opponents. Another solid game by him.”

Travis Boak (Glenelg)
“He was down on the benchmark he has set in the past couple of weeks. The Eagles played a bit of a tighter role on him. He was still very clean at the stoppages and got a lot of handballs out but didn’t get as many possessions as in previous weeks.”

The Port Adelaide Football Club has established a reputation as a football school. With performances like these, week in week out, it’s clear to see the lessons are rubbing off.

Head back to PortAdelaideFC.com.au next Monday evening to get the latest from Darren Trevena.