Ken Hinkley says Ryan Burton has been in red-hot form this year and deserves his spot back in the Power side after overcoming a hamstring injury
Ryan Burton would have been tracking in the top-five of Port Adelaide’s best-and-fairest when he hurt his hamstring in Round 17 which is why he comes straight back into the team, coach Ken Hinkley says.
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Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says a fit and firing Ryan Burton is too important to the Power’s side not to earn an instant recall from his latest hamstring injury.
Burton has missed the past four games after hurting his hamstring for the second time this season against Brisbane, but comes straight back into the senior side to play North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
Hinkley says the Hawthorn recruit has been outstanding this year and would have been tracking in the top five of the Power’s best-and-fairest before his setback.
He said it was very different to the circumstances facing Ollie Wines who was initially left out of Port’s selected side after overcoming a thumb injury last week.
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“It’s pretty simple — he was in very, very good form before he went out and he’s very important to our team,” Hinkley said of Burton.
“We’re getting close to the end of the season and we need to get some AFL football into him as quick as we possibly can.
“We weighed up all the options but we think Ryan adds too much to our team not to bring him in.
“Ollie’s (year) has been far more disruptive, he’s had very little continuity, Ryan and Ollie’s are quite different, I’m 100 per cent clear on that, there is no grey area in our mind as coaches at all.”
Hinkley said there was always some risk with players returning from a hamstring injury but Burton had been cleared by the Power’s medical staff to resume at the top level.
“There’s always a risk with a hamstring, whether he played SANFL or AFL, each week the risk gets less,” Hinkley said.
“But we back our medical team in and they say he is 100 per cent ready to go, so we go with that.
“It’s a really clear decision because our medical team make the decision, he ran more high speed last week than he does in a game and has done it again this week, so there comes a point where we say ‘are we waiting because we are worried or are we going to put him out there and let him play?’”
Port’s other inclusion for the Kangaroos clash is Zak Butters who was a late withdrawal with a sternum injury last weekend.
Cam Sutcliffe has been dropped while Xavier Duursma is out with a bruised heel but Hinkley said it was “not too bad” and he expected him to only miss one game.
Hinkley said while his team this weekend has eight defenders on paper, it also has great flexibility.
“It was certainly a goal for us at the start of pre-season to become more flexible as a football team,” he said.
“We have Jonas and Clurey and Dixon who probably play as a lock (in their set position) but outside that there’s not many more in our team that we’re not comfortable to throw around and it gives us some options on game day.”
While Hinkley was tempted to recall premiership ruckman Scott Lycett after his 30 disposals in the SANFL last weekend, he said a determination to reward winning teams and strong individual performances meant Paddy Ryder and fifth-gamer Peter Ladhams would get first crack at Todd Goldstein.
“Pete is coming up to his fifth game, it’s always going to be a big test it doesn’t matter who he comes up against, so Pete is going to learn a lot but we’ve got great confidence he can get the job done,” Hinkley said.
The Power enters Round 22 in eighth spot on the ladder and needs to win one if not both of its last two games to secure a finals berth.
“We’ve earnt our position right now but we’ve now got to go out and play the last two games and be really consistent because we’ll earn our opportunity,” Hinkley said.
“If we don’t, footy has a way of telling you what you get.
“We totally understand where we are as a footy club, and we’ve been very mindful that we’re growing and building and we’re getting somewhere.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au