Scott Lycett to play ahead of Pete Ladhams rather than alongside him as Port Adelaide all but settles on its team for Round 1
Port Adelaide’s early-season plan is to play Scott Lycett as a solo ruckman rather than in tandem with Peter Ladhams as coach Ken Hinkley challenges them to convince him otherwise.
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Port Adelaide is preparing to play just one specialist ruckman in Round 1 after settling on Scott Lycett ahead of Peter Ladhams - rather than alongside him - for their final pre-season game against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday.
Last year saw Lycett, Ladhams and Paddy Ryder playing together but with Ryder now at St Kilda, Power coach Ken Hinkley wants just one of the two remaining big-men to carry the load.
Lycett will spearhead the ruck against the Dogs in Whyalla and Hinkley says Ladhams must show he can be a threat inside 50m before he earns a recall.
“We’ve got Westy (Westhoff) and Charlie (Dixon) and Todd (Marshall) out there, plenty of tall people who can help out, but Scotty is the type of ruckman who needs to ruck for about 80 per cent of the game,” Hinkley said.
“That’s when we get our best results out of Scott, so we don’t want to have two ruckmen and last game of the pre-season series where we’re 50-50.
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“We think that’s the best method for him but we also know Pete (Ladhams) is an up-and-coming ruck, and we need both boys to be able to demonstrate they can impact the game in the front half because that’s where they’ve got to spend some minutes.
“We’re not going to be a team that can carry two ruckmen that go 50-50 and have only three on the bench, so we’re figuring out if we can get one of them to play a little more forward that will be a great option for us.
“Pete is fine, he didn’t play last week he was sick, so he missed out on a game and that hurt him a bit but we’ve got to a point where we’ve got to make a decision on what we’ll look for for Round 1 and at this stage is looks like Scott is in front.”
Hinkley confirmed Robbie Gray would play after he was a late withdrawal from last week’s state of origin clash with foot soreness, but they are being cautious with Jackson Mead who will miss as he returns from a hamstring injury.
“Rob will play, he’s fine, it’s been a long pre-season and he’s in really good shape,” Hinkley said.
“If there was any risk for any of our players we wouldn’t take it but Robbie will play.
High-flying forward Mitch Georgiades will play after impressing against Brisbane a fortnight ago and Hinkley said there was a feeling of optimism around the place.
“I believe the group is in a really good position, we’ve had another pre-season together, we’re a somewhat younger side but we’ve also got some experienced players back this year who are in really good shape,” he said.
“Looking at Charlie, Hammer, people who have missed a lot of football running around and a touch of the younger ones, so overall if you could say we had a perfect pre-season, we’ve nearly had a perfect pre-season.
“You do need to start in a healthy position and we’re in that space right now.”