Power coach Ken Hinkley has already put plans in place for Hawks star Tom Mitchell

WHY Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is comfortable with Hawthorn star Tom Mitchell having some influence against the Power in Tasmania this weekend — but not much.

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PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has conceded a complete shutdown job of Hawthorn star Tom Mitchell is out of the question — but the Power will try to cut him down to size.

Mitchell is second favourite alongside Dustin Martin in Brownlow Medal betting — they are both $5 behind Nathan Fyfe ($3.50) with Ladbrokes — after having a breakout start to the season.

He averages 34.7 disposals from the first 10 matches of the year, has collected 40-plus five times and had a head-turning 54 possessions in the season opener against Collingwood.

Hawthorn's Tom Mitchell takes a mark against West Coast. Picture: Michael Klein

Hinkley said it was a matter of keeping him from having a standout game but accepting that he would still have some influence as the Power face Hawthorn in Launceston on Saturday.

“We’ve talked about the challenge of trying to restrict a player like Tom and (midfield coach) Michael (Voss)’s conversation is that we can probably bring him back from 40 (touches) to 30 but we’re not going to bring him back from 40 to 20,” Hinkley said.

“He’s that type of player, he just finds the ball and so you’ve got to consider your options and what you’re going to do.

“Tom Mitchell is such a good player.

“Look he’ll get some attention; it’s just a matter of how tightly we put on that attention.”

Hinkley’s call comes as the club is finally getting some clarity on the ankle injury of Matthew Broadbent, who hasn’t played this season.

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The club is confident he will be back well before the finals after increasing his training load.

“We’re really positive about where he’s at because he had that surgery in February and the diagnosis there was to make sure he went 12 weeks without getting going again and we’ve followed it to the letter because he’s had some significant issues going through that,” Hinkley said on Adelaide radio show Sportsday SA.

“He’s back running just now and we’re just being a bit mindful and cautious with his build-up.

“Everything going well we could probably expect to see Brogsy in about four to five weeks playing.”

Paddy Ryder and injured veteran Matthew Broadbent at Power training. Picture: Sarah Reed

The Power is coming off a break, having had a bye after its match against the Gold Coast in China.

It means the club will potentially have longest stretch of any team leading into the finals — 13 weeks — without a break.

But Hinkley said a few mini-breaks could be scheduled in after having success with that approach last season.

“We know that we’ve got an extended period to play before we get our next break and hopefully we play finals before we get our next break,” Hinkley said. “Last year we gave the boys a couple of opportunities where we gave the boys a couple of three-day breaks.

“You sacrifice a training session here or there to make sure that you get them physically fresh and mentally fresh.

“We did it last year without it causing any harm … and we think we managed the back end of the season pretty well.”

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