West Adelaide star Jason Porplyzia to manage troublesome knee

WEST Adelaide gun Jason Porplyzia has no intention of hanging up the boots before the end of the season.

Jason Porplyzia is managing his knee issues. Picture: Tait Schmaal

WEST Adelaide premiership hero Jason Porplyzia is refusing to concede to his troublesome knee and has committed himself to the Bloods for the rest of the season.

However the knee he had reconstructed last year must be managed and he is operating on a restricted program.

There were fears Porplyzia’s season was under threat when he missed the contest against Sturt two weeks back due to knee soreness. But the veteran returned for the hapless loss to Norwood last weekend and is in the side to front Woodville-West Torrens at Woodville Oval on Saturday.

“It’s not where I’d like it to be, not 100 per cent,” Porplyzia said. “I have reduced loads during the week in terms of training and getting it to a state where it is reasonable come game day.

“It’s frustrating, but what can you do, just keep plugging away. I’m committed to the whole year and making sure we finish off well and hopefully get some finals.”

The Bloods have responded to a round two 138-point mauling from North Adelaide to be two games outside the top five midway through the minor round.

In the past two weeks they have seriously challenged Sturt and Norwood in a reflection of the impressive work of Gavin Colville, a best team man award recipient and former captain at the Eagles, in his first season at the helm.

Gavin Colville has been honoured at Woodville-West Torrens.

“The club made a really good appointment with Gavin,” Porplyzia said.

“He has been excellent right from when he took over and is pushing the players to a bigger standard than what they have been used to.

“We are putting ourselves in winning positions and the next step is to have that belief we can get the job done when the game is on the line.

“Gavin has the respect of the players and the players are good at taking feedback on board. It has been pleasing we have been able to respond quickly to disappointing games.”

Porplyzia said the poor effort against the Roosters had been extensively reviewed and the players did not shirk any issues, all acknowledging it was not good enough across the board.

He claimed the Eagles had been the benchmark for the past few years, were consistent and well structured and disciplined.

“They will be hard to beat at Woodville, but we can go in with confidence,” he said.

“If we play our best we can take it to them, we just have to sustain it for four quarters.”