As Port Adelaide battles for consistency, the side enters Showdown 47 with only six players who have played every game so far this season

Port Adelaide’s assistant coach Brett Montgomery says the Power is able to maintain a tight team unit and consistency despite having only six players who’ve played every game this season.

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As Port Adelaide continues it’s season-long battle for consistency, the team heads into Showdown 47 with only six players who have played all AFL games so far this year.

Six is the equal second-fewest in the AFL, above only Richmond who has a miserly three who have played every game so far this season.

Meanwhile, the Crows go into Saturday’s clash boasting half its starting 22 — 11 players — as having played every game this season, equal second-biggest in the league.

But that number doesn’t faze Power assistant coach Brett Montgomery, who says the side is still able to maintain its tight on-field unit, despite what seems like a revolving door of ins and outs due to either injury or poor form.

“It’s our job to make sure the depth of understanding (among all players) is at a high level and that becomes a challenge, no doubt about it,” Montgomery said.

“We think a lot of the guys that have come in have … it’s great exposure to have a look at your list whilst you continue to win.

“You don’t want to be a team that gets 40 deep on your list and they’re having to learn when they’re getting beaten by 10 goals every week.

“There has been a silver lining in our injuries, in exposure, but it’s time for that to tighten up, get our healthy players back, try and get some continuity in line up and play so we can build towards something special towards the end of the year.”

Brett Montgomery hinted Dougal Howard (above) and Karl Amon would both return to the side from suspension. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Montgomery said despite the weekly team changes, the squad was in a good place overall.

“While (our season’s) being written up as win-loss, win-loss, we have a lot of players who are chipping away at their game to find consistency in their own games,” he said.

“ … what we see is a team that’s trying to write their own story, create their own path, go to work consistently, become an every-time team and I see 45 guys working towards that every day.”

While the likes of Sam Powell-Pepper have exited the team with poor form in recent weeks, Montgomery insisted co-captain Ollie Wines did not need to do the same to regain his touch.

“Personally I think (that’s) a bit of an over-reaction … he’s had an incredibly interrupted off-season and in-season, so from our point of view, it’s in our best interests to get him firing fully, so to put any added pressure on him would be a real mistake on our part.

At Port’s training session, Travis Boak, Sam Powell-Pepper and Connor Rozee were put through their paces. Boak and Rozee are two of only six players who have played every game so far this AFL season. Picture: SARAH REED

“For us to be a good team, we need a more consistent, stronger every-time midfield and he’s part of that.”

When asked why Wines would stay in the side, while Powell-Pepper and Ryder head to the twos, Montgomery said: “Those guys needed a circuit breaker in there for them to get that type of behaviour change. Ollie is a very different case.”

The squad was put through a closed training session at Alberton Oval on Thursday that Montgomery described as “well-planned” which included elements that added “energy and excitement” to the group.

“We trained a bit longer, we had guys play in forward line, we had guys that went through the middle that have never been through there, we explored a few opportunities today,” he said.

PLAYERS PLAYED ALL GAMES:

Brisbane 13

Adelaide 11

Fremantle 11

Sydney 11

Geelong 10

Collingwood 10

GWS Giants 10

Western Bulldogs 10

St Kilda 10

Melbourne 10

North Melbourne 9

Essendon 8

Hawthorn 8

Gold Coast 8

Carlton 7

West Coast 6

Port Adelaide 6

Richmond 3

PORT PLAYERS WHO HAVE PLAYED EVERY GAME THIS SEASON:

Travis Boak

Darcy Byrne-Jones

Tom Clurey

Xavier Duursma

Dan Houston

Connor Rozee

CROWS PLAYERS WHO HAVE PLAYED EVERY GAME THIS SEASON:

Rory Atkins

Eddie Betts

Brad Crouch

Jake Kelly

Alex Keath

Rory Laird

Lachlan Murphy

Rory Sloane

Brodie Smith

Daniel Talia

Taylor Walker

PORT ADELAIDE’S “PLAYERS PLAYED ALL GAMES” SEASON-BY-SEASON

2019: 6

2018: 6

2017: 8

2016: 4

2015: 6