Port Adelaide set to drop big guns to make way for star trio in major selection shake-up
Port Adelaide is set to bring in the wrecking ball at today’s selection meeting with some of the club’s biggest names tipped to be dropped.
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Port Adelaide is set to bring in the wrecking ball at this week’s selection meeting with some of the club’s biggest names tipped to be dropped.
It comes as it is understood one of the club’s highest-paid players, Paddy Ryder, is uncertain about his future after his shift this year from spending most of his time in the ruck to now being primarily considered a tall forward.
Ryder’s role changed with the arrival of Scott Lycett, West Coast’s premiership ruckman last year, who was lured in a trade back to Alberton where he played junior football and six SANFL games.
Ryder is just one who is expected to be a casualty as they shift the magnets at the selection meeting.
Veteran utility and reigning club champion Justin Westhoff, midfield bull Sam Powell-Pepper and emerging defender Jarrod Lienert are also in line for relegation to the reserves ahead of the club’s vital clash against Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
It would bring an end to Westhoff’s current AFL-record run of 135 consecutive games.
All of them come as a stinging but natural surprises; the Power is set to bring in key forward Charlie Dixon, who has starred with eight goals in two SANFL matches, co-captain Ollie Wines and veteran Brad Ebert, who has been recovering from concussion.
With key senior players coming in, somebody has to go out.
The surprise this time was the big names that are set to be pushed out at selection.
Port Adelaide premiership player and The Advertiser columnist Kane Cornes signalled that it could mean 2017 John Cahill Medallist Ryder’s time at the club was under a cloud.
Writing on SEN radio’s website, Cornes said, “The future of Ryder, who is out of contract at the end of this season, and his relationship with Ken Hinkley and the football club is now showing signs of cracking.
“With the addition of Scott Lycett to the squad this year, Ryder has been forced to spend 60 per cent of his playing time as a tall forward — a move that hasn’t worked and one that Ryder hasn’t embraced.
“He wants to be the number one ruck and is seeking a club that will afford him that opportunity.
“Ryder’s management has already asked Port Adelaide for a two-year contract extension for the 31-year-old — a request that was quickly rejected by the club.”
Senior assistant coach Michael Voss hinted that it would be an interesting selection meeting this week.
But he disagreed with the notion that somebody had to “pay the price” for the loss to Fremantle last weekend, when the Power failed to kick a goal in the last quarter.
“I don’t like to use the term ‘paying the price’,” Voss said after the club’s training session at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. “We look at form not just what happens in one game.
“It’s taken over two or three weeks or four weeks and we balance all of that up.
“Plus what we want to go in with.
“I think it’s too simplistic to say that someone has to pay a price for what happened last week.
“We’d like to think we’re not Monday experts and can actually take a longer-term view.”