Port Adelaide vows to stop West Coast’s ‘switch’ at new Perth Stadium

OLLIE Wines says Port Adelaide will try to restrict West Coast’s “switch’’ as it plays its first game at the new Perth Stadium on Saturday.

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OLLIE Wines says Port Adelaide will try to restrict West Coast’s “switch’’ as it plays its first game at the new Perth Stadium tomorrow.

Vice-captain Wines said his club had studied the Eagles’ game plan at the new state-of-the-art stadium and noticed how they try to cut teams open by using the width of the ground.

“Perth Stadium is very similar to the MCG,’’ Wines said.

“The old Subiaco Oval was very long but wasn't as wide, so we noticed a little bit in West Coast’s game style that they like to use the width of the ground and go around teams.

“That’s one thing we’ve had to look at, stopping that switch and not letting them play to the advantage of the ground.’’

Jasper Pittard returns to the Power team for the Perth clash. Picture: Sarah Reed

This could partly explain the Power’s selection decision to promote running half-back Jasper Pittard at the expense of key defender Tom Clurey.

Wines said the inclusion of All-Australian ruckman Paddy Ryder after missing five games with Achilles tendinitis is timely against Eagles’ star Nic Naitanui.

“Getting Ryder back is huge,’’ he told radio FIVEaa.

“That (the ruck) is probably where we’ve struggled, despite ‘Hoff’ (Justin Westhoff) and ‘Dicko’ (Charlie Dixon) giving their best in the ruck.

“They are not natural ruckmen, that’s Paddy’s job and it’s going to be exciting to have him back.

“We’ve watched lots of edits of Nic Nat during the week and, gee he’s got a big jump.

“He loves jumping and has got natural spring but Paddy also is a jumper, so there’s going to be some high jumping going on.’’

Wines admitted Port would miss banned runner Chad Cornes against the Eagles after he copped a one-match AFL suspension for swearing at North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein at Etihad Stadium last week.

Former Crow, Port development coach Trent Hentschel will fill in for Cornes, who won’t travel with the team.

“It will be a big different not having him there,’’ Wines said of Cornes, adding Hentschel “gets very nervous when he’s got the running duties’’.

“But they are the AFL rules and we’ve got to abide by that. I think Chad understands he did the wrong thing.’’

Wines joked that he hoped Hentschel performed better than an unnamed runner that Ken Hinkley used in his first year at the club in 2013.

“Kenny had one of his good mates running for us and he ran for the (Port) Maggies and was known for making a few blues,’’ Wines said.

“There was one story when he ran out to Tom Logan and said ‘Tommy, tell ‘Loges’ to go to the backline.

“He was bewildered but I think that type of thing happened a fair few times by all reports.’’

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