Port Adelaide sets up base in Shanghai with no reason to change the playbook from last year’s visit

PORT Adelaide’s 26-man squad arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday feeling its experiences from last year serve it well for a repeat win against Gold Coast on Saturday

Port Adelaide’s Jack Trengove and Jack Hombsch. Picture: SARAH REED

PORT ADELAIDE has made the perfect return to Shanghai with defender Jack Hombsch noting the Power need only repeat last year’s playbook to ensure it is best prepared for Saturday’s AFL clash with Gold Coast.

The Power squad arrived in China at noon Tuesday – 18 hours after leaving Adelaide for the AFL’s longest road trip – with a trouble-free run through Melbourne and Hong Kong.

The 26-man squad will be complete on Wednesday night with the arrival of wingman Jared Polec, who is catching a later flight with senior assistant Matthew Nicks. Both were ill when the squad departed on Monday.

“The club did a great job last year, especially in preparing us for the unknown; and I can’t think of anything that needs to change this year,” Hombsch said on arriving in Shanghai where the Power beat the Suns by 72 points last season.

“We were left to play footy last year while the club staff did the heavy lifting on all the other parts to this game in China. It’s the same again with no need to change.”

A year after making history with the first AFL game played for premiership points outside Australia and New Zealand, the Port Adelaide squad has returned to Shanghai with the “mystery” gone from the China adventure.

“In a sense,” said Hombsch, “it does feel like another road trip. We know the team hotel, we know what Shanghai is like because we have been here before and we know the ground. So it does feel familiar.

“Being here again – and with most of the group being guys who played here last year – does have a familiar sense to it.

“But it can’t be a holiday. We have to switch on to win a game of footy.”

Port Adelaide has kept its 22 Showdown heroes – and added Melbourne recruits Jack Trengove and Dom Barry, former Gold Coast defender Trent McKenzie and midfielder-forward Karl Amon – to the travel party that arrived in China significant charged up by the dramatic five-point win against Adelaide.

“That win gives us belief,” Hombsch said. “To be down at half-time, to claw back to have the lead, losing that lead but winning the Showdown on Steven Motlop kicking that last goal gives us reason to believe we are never out of a game.

“There is proof we can take a game to the last minute,” added Hombsch of his team living up to coach Ken Hinkley’s “never give up” mantra. “It does feel great to win the tight, gritty games this year after recently not having them go our way.

“After it had been so long since we won a Showdown (May 2015), the belief that win gives us makes this trip more enjoyable. Hopefully, it can kick start us and give us some momentum to build on for the rest of the season.”

Port Adelaide’s players were spread between business class and premium economy seats on the long-haul Cathay Pacific flight that left Melbourne just before midnight on Monday and arrived in Hong Kong soon after dawn on Tuesday.

“Flying overnight meant most of the boys slept, so that made the flight go a lot quicker,” Hombsch said. “They did a great job for us looking after us.”

Port Adelaide will spend a week in Shanghai, looking to build stronger bonds in a group self-described as “very close”.

“We enjoy each other’s company – and this is a good chance to spend time together,” Hombsch said. “We say quite often that we are quite close (as a group) – and we genuinely enjoy each other’s company. So having the down time (from training and meetings) together is good for us.”

Port Adelaide returns to Jiangwan Stadium for training on Wednesday.