Star Port Adelaide ruckman Paddy Ryder reveals he will be playing sore all season

PORT Adelaide’s flag hopes are riding on Paddy Ryder's sore Achilles with the star ruckman revealing he won’t be fully fit this season.

Paddy Ryder celebrates a goal in Port’s thrilling Showdown 44 win against Adelaide. Picture: James Elsby (AFL Media/Getty Images).

• Bye done, now Power on long run
• AFL Rankings: Crows’ loss more than just a bad day
• Marshall cleared of shoulder damage but return unknown
• Fine line between pleasure, pain and profit in China
• Rockliff: I still need to earn Port’s respect

PORT Adelaide’s flag hopes are riding on Paddy Ryder's sore Achilles with the star ruckman revealing he won’t be fully fit this season.

The Power’s most influential player, along with Robbie Gray, has admitted his damaged left Achilles, which sidelined him for five games from rounds two to six, needs a prolonged end-of-season break to fully recover from the tendinitis issue that has plagued him this year.

The All-Australian ruckman, who returned to the field against West Coast in round seven and starred in Port’s thrilling Showdown 44 win against Adelaide a week later, said he is on a modified training program that allows him to train fully only one day a week.

Port Adelaide Power player Paddy Ryder, left, at Power training on Friday. Picture: AAP Image/Kelly Barnes

But he is confident his injury — which comes two years after he had a similar problem with his right Achilles — will not stop him from playing a big role in the 6-3 Power’s chase for a first AFL premiership since 2004.

“It (the soreness) is not ideal but I can definitely still play at my best,’’ Ryder said in an honest assessment of where he is at physically.

“I had a good game against the Crows and probably not so good in China (against Gold Coast) and I’m still building form and confidence but I can still play a big part in what our team does.

“I probably need a decent break for it to be able to come good but obviously I’m not going to be able to get that through the season, so we’ve got (rehabilitation) plans in place and it's working pretty well at the moment.’’

The spring-heeled Ryder, 30 and Port’s reigning club champion, hurt himself in round one against Fremantle and was unable to complete the game.

“With the Achilles, it’s an ongoing thing, but something that we manage pretty closely,” Ryder said as the Power prepares for Saturday’s clash against Hawthorn in Launceston.

“I’m still building my way back into things and working my way into how my body feels.

“I’ve got to be able to train well, be able to get the right training loads in to perform on the weekend.

“We’ve been through a little bit of trial and error with the physios and the docs, we’ve got it down pat now.

“I only train one (main) session a week, the big session that the guys build me up for, we get a lot of load in that session.

“The rest of the time is getting ready for the game. After a game, that’s cooling it down and making sure it hasn’t got any worse.’’

Ryder said short, midweek rest had not cured the problem.

He said he just has to get through the season before giving the Achilles a long break.

In the meantime, Ryder said, he had found “putting a lot of load into the tendon’’ had been the best medicine.

“I do a lot of calf raises because the tendon tends to react well to a bit of loading every day,’’ he said.

“We’ve found if I have too many days off it doesn’t get anywhere, you come back and you are a little bit sorer again.’’

Ryder does not believe he needs end-of-season surgery to repair the tendon, just rest.

[e-mail]