Brendon Lade backs makeshift ruck pair to fill the void left by the loss of injured Paddy Ryder

BRENDON Lade has indicated Port Adelaide’s young ruckmen aren’t ready to fill injured Paddy Ryder’s giant shoes, instead key forwards Charlie Dixon and Justin Westhoff will be handed the task of keeping the club’s top four hopes alive.

BRENDON Lade has indicated Port Adelaide’s young ruckmen aren’t ready to fill injured Paddy Ryder’s giant shoes and key forwards Charlie Dixon and Justin Westhoff will be handed the task of keeping the club’s top four hopes alive.

Ruck and forwards coach Lade said the Power is preparing for last year’s All-Australian ruckman Ryder to miss two-to-four weeks with the hip flexor injury he sustained in the shock loss to Fremantle in Perth on Sunday in what is a nightmare scenario for the club.

Hitout specialist Ryder and brilliant small forward/midfielder Robbie Gray, who was concussed in the game following a dangerous tackle that has seen Docker Ryan Nyhuis sent straight to the AFL tribunal, are Port’s two most important players.

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The loss saw the Power, who could have been equal top on points if it had beaten Fremantle, slip to fifth and facing a blockbuster encounter against suddenly in-form GWS at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

While Gray is rated as a good chance to play against the Giants - “he’s had no ill effects so far and hopefully he’ll be fine for selection,’’ Lade said - Ryder already has been ruled out.

Ryder was hurt just before half-time and is waiting for scans to determine the full extent of the damage.

Charlie Dixon in action against Fremantle.

Justin Westhoff in action against Fremantle.

Port had a modest 3-2 win-loss record when Ryder missed five games with an Achilles injury from rounds two to six.

“He’ll get scanned in the next couple of days and we’ll go from there, but it looks like he’ll miss a few weeks,” Lade said.

“If it’s two weeks, four weeks, who knows.’’

Lade said the Power’s young SANFL ruckmen Billy Frampton and Peter Ladhams had still not progressed to the stage where the club felt comfortable throwing them to the wolves at AFL level.

Port’s other young ruckman, Sam Hayes, is out for the year following a knee reconstruction.

With no youngster ready to step up to the plate, Lade indicated it would be left to the makeshift tandem of Dixon and Westhoff to carry the ruck load.

“Westy and Charlie both did some good jobs rucking for us when Paddy was out earlier in the year,’’ Lade said.

“We’ll have to go through and have a look at (GWS’s) Dawson Simpson and Adam Tomlinson this week and the weeks after and see what our best fit is.

Paddy Ryder rucks against Sean Darcy before being injured.

“Frampton and Ladhams have been playing well in the SANFL in the past two or three weeks so they are not out of the (selection) question but it is probably the same scenario (as earlier in the.

“They’ve shown improvement again, which has been good, but whether they are ready for the AFL, we’ll see.

“We have shown that we can ruck Charlie and Westy. Charlie rucked the whole second half against Sydney (in Round 2) when we were very good in that game, so we’ve learnt to adapt without one or the other in their specific areas.’’

Promising key forward Todd Marshall would have been the logical choice to replace one of them in attack but he badly hurt an ankle in Port’s SANFL loss to Adelaide on Sunday and is likely to be sidelined for several weeks.

Lade said Gray had pulled up well from the bad head knock that saw him carried from Perth Stadium on a stretcher.

“After the game, he was eating and he was fine, he didn’t have a headache at all,’’ he said.

“He’ll have to do all the (concussion) tests and if he’s not feeling 100 per cent, he won’t be playing.”

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