Port Adelaide picking China AFL squad on form as Suns become concerned with smog in Shanghai

PORT Adelaide says it will pick its China AFL squad on football reasons while Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade has handed his line-up to the team medicos.

• Power prepared for Shanghai adventure
• Suns won’t risk asthmatic players

PORT Adelaide is backing fitness coach Darren Burgess’ international experience to ensure its players are primed for the heat and questionable air quality in Shanghai during Sunday’s historic AFL clash in China.

And Power coach Ken Hinkley will have the final say on who boards the plane to Shanghai on Tuesday night - unlike his Gold Coast colleague Rodney Eade who is handing over selection to his medical staff.

Port Adelaide football chief Chris Davies told The Advertiser on Sunday the Power will pick its 25-man squad for China on football issues and form, not the air quality in Shanghai where the forecast for Sunday is a maximum of 28 and cloudy.

Darcy Byrne-Jones of the Power is tackled by Josh Hill of the Eagles.

Eade says he will keep at home players with “asthma or respiratory problems”.

The air quality reading in Shanghai this week is poor with recommendations for wearing masks.

Davies said: “We will be taking the players the coaches pick. Selection will be based on football.

“And Darren Burgess is very comfortable with the fitness program the players have worked to cope with the rigours of playing in Shanghai.

“We have no reason to be concerned.”

Burgess has a record of success with international world football teams, including the Socceroos and English Premier League club Liverpool which repeatedly had long-haul travel to games with demanding local conditions.

This experience will prove invaluable for the Power players, some of whom have already dealt with travel to China with a promotional tour of Shanghai in December.

The Suns appear to have already given a psychological advantage to the Power by making an issue of how Shanghai’s weather will affect its selection - and of the time to travel to China. The Suns leave on Wednesday.

“You can’t get a direct flight there,” Eade told Triple M in Melbourne on Sunday.

Chad Wingard of the Power celebrates a goal against West Coast.

“By the time we leave here, catch a bus to Brisbane and be there a couple of hours early, it’ll be about 20 hours, 21 hours by the time we get there.”

Port Adelaide will travel from Adelaide with stops in Melbourne and Hong Kong before arriving at Shanghai. There will be two travel groups leaving on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Eade did not name the Suns players who would be unable to travel to China.

“We won’t take any players who have got asthma or have got respiratory problems anyway,” he said.

“So that’ll have to all be decided on Tuesday, so there may be some changes.”

The match is the first for AFL premiership points played Australia and New Zealand and has a $4 million budget that already has been covered by the Power’s corporate backers.

Gold Coast agreed to move its home game to Shanghai for a $500,000 return. The Power cannot transfer any of its 11 home matches from Adelaide Oval.

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