AFL 2022: All the Port Adelaide news ahead of the Round 5 clash with Carlton
In another injury blow for Port Adelaide, Scott Lycett will go under the knife. But the silver lining is young ruckman Sam will finally get his chance. Here’s the latest.
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Scott Lycett will miss three months of football, opening the door for Sam Hayes to make his long awaited debut for Port Adelaide.
Lycett dislocated his shoulder in the Power’s loss to Melbourne last week.
The Power tried to get Lycett up for Sunday’s clash against Carlton, but the decision has been made to send the ruckman in for surgery.
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Port Adelaide head of medical services Tim O’Leary said Lycett would now miss three months of footy.
“We gave Scott every chance to get up and he really tested his shoulder at training today, but unfortunately he was unable to gey through,” O’Leary said on Friday.
“We have decided the best course of action will be to have the shoulder repaired, which will unfortunately see him miss around three months of football.”
Lycett’s injury opens the door for Hayes to play his first senior game for the Power after being drafted at pick 47 in the 2017 draft.
Highly rated at the club, Hayes has overcome an ACL rupture in 2018.
He was Port’s SANFL best and fairest in 2021.
Three key Port players on track to tackle Blues
- Matt Turner
Port Adelaide will give several of its key players until Saturday to prove their fitness for the following day’s crunch game against Michael Voss’s Carlton at the MCG.
Key defender Aliir Aliir (ankle), Scott Lycett (shoulder dislocation) and Robbie Gray (Covid protocols) are another step closer to returning after training at Alberton on Wednesday.
Aliir has not played since having surgery on his syndesmosis injury post-Round 1.
Lycett battled through a shoulder injury in last week’s 34-point home loss to Melbourne.
Gray’s most recent match was also against the Lions, when he sustained a knee issue.
Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines also hit the track on Wednesday, five days on from being hospitalised with heart condition atrial fibrillation (see below), but he would not feature this weekend.
Defender Ryan Burton - set to line up in his 100th game against the Blues - said the team would wait before determining which of those sidelined players would be available.
“We’re going to give them the full week to get back,” Burton said.
“They know their bodies, they’re experienced, I’m sure a few of them will train Friday and Saturday, and we’ll see how they go.”
If Aliir was not selected, 191cm Burton could be forced to play on a taller opponent again, like he did against the Demons.
Fifth-year ruckman Sam Hayes would be in line to debut if Lycett was unavailable.
GWS recruit Jeremy Finlayson kicked six goals in the SANFL on Saturday to put his hand up for a recall.
Burton said Power players were staying positive after the side’s 0-4 start to the season.
He thought the team matched it with the reigning premier for 85 per cent of last Thursday night’s match.
A defeat to Carlton, which has a 3-1 record, will further dent Port Adelaide’s finals hopes.
Facing Voss, a Power assistant coach from late 2014 to the end of last year, is providing extra motivation.
“We had a great relationship with Vossy,” he said.
“It’s going to be really good to go against him and try to knock him off.”
Burton grew up as a Power supporter and was drafted to Hawthorn in 2015 before being traded at the end of the 2018 campaign.
The 25-year-old said training continuity and a stronger fitness base had helped him play 29 consecutive games.
“I was confident in my body as a kid then all of a sudden I have a big (leg) injury (in 2015) and from then on it was hard to be confident in my body because I had little things go wrong a lot,” he said.
“Now I’m confident in my body every week going into a game.”
WINES CLEARED TO TRAIN AS FINAL DIAGNOSIS REVEALED
Port Adelaide star Ollie Wines says he is “100 per cent back to normal” and has been cleared to return to light training.
But the Brownlow Medallist will miss this weekend’s clash against Carlton with what has been diagnosed as atrial fibrillation.
Wines was taken to hospital after complaining of heart palpitations in the Power’s loss to Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
He was released from hospital on Friday evening.
“I’m 100 per cent back to normal, thanks to the Calvary staff the doctors and nurses there,” Wines said on Monday.
“They really looked after me, and now I’m 100 per cent fine. There were a few little issues but they have been rectified now.”
News Corp reported on Sunday that myocarditis had been ruled as the reason for Wines’ stint in hospital.
Wines confirmed this was the case.
“Nah nothing to that, completely unrelated,” Wines said.
“It was more a heart rhythm issue in elderly people and elite athletes.
“Once it was explained to me it was really reassuring and there aren’t too many long-term effects.”
Port Adelaide’s head of medical services Tim O’Leary said Wines was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation – a well recognised, albeit uncommon condition in elite athletes, that can spontaneously cause an irregular heart rhythm.
O’Leary confirmed the 27-year-old has been cleared to participate in some training but a timeline on his playing return will become more apparent after further testing on his heart later this week.
“Ollie is feeling well and has been cleared to return to light training in the short-term,” he said.
“His health is our paramount concern so he will remain under observation and have some further testing over the coming days.
“Following that testing, we would expect that any timelines for Ollie to return to playing would become more apparent but as I said, this is a secondary consideration behind his personal wellbeing.”
While the Power will be without Wines for the clash against Carlton on Sunday, as they search for their first win of the season, ruckman Scott Lycett remains in contention to take on the Blues after he dislocated his shoulder against the Demons and Aliir Aliir could also play after syndesmosis surgery.
Robbie Gray is also a chance to return, while Xavier Duursma (neck and shoulder bruising) will be assessed ahead of Port’s AFL and SANFL games.
Trent McKenzie will miss after he had an arthroscopic clean-out of loose bodies in his left knee on Monday.
The Power said the injury was the result of a direct knock to his knee in the Round 3 Showdown, and resulted in him being withdrawn just before the game against the Demons.
A timeline for his return is expected to become clearer throughout the week.
Josh Sinn is listed as three to four weeks on the injury report as he battles groin soreness, while Orazio Fantasia is five to seven weeks away.
Charlie Dixon is at least a month away from training after more surgery on his foot.
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