Crows and Power happy with Gold Coast setup as they prepare to head north into the AFL’s quarantine hub

Adelaide and Port Adelaide will fly to the Gold Coast separately this week, but stay in the same hotel. After some initial pushback, the Power say they now have no concerns about the living arrangements.

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They’re on separate flights on separate days, but Port Adelaide says it has no issue sharing a hotel with arch rival Adelaide on the Gold Coast from this week.

Power president David Koch and coach Ken Hinkley initially questioned the AFL’s plan to force the two SA clubs into joint accommodation as part of the three-week Queensland hub to reboot the AFL season.

But those concerns have since been appeased, with confirmation the teams – who clashed in Showdown 48 on Saturday night – will stay in separate wings of the Mercure Golf Resort when they arrive this weekend.

At this stage the Power will fly to the Gold Coast on Friday and the Crows on Saturday before both playing their Round 3 games against Fremantle and Gold Coast, respectively, on Sunday.

On Saturday night, Hinkley confirmed he had no problem with the accommodation arrangements, and the Crows have maintained that approach throughout.

What might seem like Hinkley’s biggest problem – team selection – he said was in fact a blessing.

Ken Hinkley addresses his players during the 75-point win against the Crows. Picture: David Mariuz (AAP)

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Vice-captain Ollie Wines will be available after serving a one-game suspension and versatile ruckman Pete Ladhams was solid in the scratch match on Saturday.

“Pete Ladhams, Ollie (Wines) played really well, Mayesy (Sam Mayes), there were plenty out there who played some strong footy, so that helps,” Hinkley said.

“They’re not problems, they’re things that are really good, if you’re going to be a good team you’ve got to have those challenges and you’ve got to want your spot.

“We’ve got players wanting a spot and players who don’t want to give up a spot.

“It’s only Round 2 and there’s a lot of footy to go.”

Ryan Burton didn’t finish the game on Saturday night, but Hinkley does not think it is serious.

“He didn’t go back out in the last quarter because his knee was a bit sore, but nothing too serious, we were in a position where we didn’t need to take a risk and we took Lycett off with 10 minutes to go,” he said.

“We managed a couple, but Burto ideally would have gone back out there so there'll be some doubt.”

The Crows are hoping to turn their Gold Coast hub experience into a positive after Saturday’s 75-point loss left them 0-2 to start the season.

“I think we’re really looking forward to getting over there as a group,” Nicks said.

“The toughest part of it is families.

“We respect that and understand it, I’ve got a family, so that’s going to be tough to not have them there, but for our young group it’s going to be a real positive to be over there and we’ll do our best to spend as much time as we can trying to work on some of these areas I’ve spoken about.”

Midfielder Matt Crouch agreed.

“We’ve got a pretty young list, so it will be awesome for them to get the experience in the hub and have access to our footy staff 24/7 … we’ll learn a lot and as a team we’ll improve through this period,” he said.

“I’m actually really looking forward to getting up to the Gold Coast and playing them on Sunday.”

Crows coach Matthew Nicks said the decision to take Sloane out of the game with a corked thigh in the third quarter was to prevent further damage. Picture: Sarah Reed

The Crows have their own injury concerns, with captain Rory Sloane (corked thigh) and Jake Kelly (concussion) failing to finish the game, while Patrick Wilson dislocated his shoulder in the scratch match and will have scans on Monday.

“It was a really solid cork unfortunately, he (Sloane) wanted to continue on but the last thing we wanted to do was make that worse,” Nicks said.

“In the end he was hobbling around and couldn’t keep up with it, so we had to make the decision for more of a medium to longer term for him.”

Nicks said Shane McAdam, Myles Poholke and Andrew McPherson were among those who were putting their hand up for a senior game after their performance in the practice match against the Power.