Tom Rockliff says Port Adelaide must address first quarters to beat Adelaide in Showdown 46

Port Adelaide’s longest-serving AFL captain Travis Boak will retake the reins in Showdown 46 on Saturday night. And the hero of Showdown 44 Steve Motlop could be in line for a recall.

Tom Rockliff gets his kick away against Melbourne in Round 1. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AAP

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PORT Adelaide has confirmed it will return to the steady leadership of former captain Travis Boak for Saturday night’s Showdown as co-captains Tom Jonas and Ollie Wines are on the sidelines.

Boak will shoulder a big load of the leadership in the derby but will also be assisted by the experience of Matthew Broadbent, who returns to senior football for the first time since late 2017 because of ankle and foot injuries.

Another seasoned player, Steven Motlop, has done enough in a stint with the reserves to be a likely recall for the match against the Crows.

Travis Boak gives advice to Charlie Dixon and Karl Amon at Alberton on Thursday morning. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

Assistant coach Michael Voss said it had been an easy call to reinstall Boak, Port Adelaide’s longest-serving AFL captain, as the skipper for the day.

“Obviously Boaky coming in filling the void is great,” Voss said. “The boys are clearly pretty familiar and he’s got a bit of experience in his pre-match addresses so we should be good to go.

“He jumped at it and it was really quite obvious.”

Port Adelaide midfielder Tom Rockliff earlier said Boak, who captained the Power for six years from 2013 until stepping down at the end of last season, was the obvious leader to take charge against the Crows.

He had been in sparkling form and continued to be one who the players used for guidance and direction.

“Boak’s in career-best form,” Rockliff said on TripleM on Thursday morning.

“It’s a bit like last man standing but he’s done it before and I’m sure he’ll step into that role and do it again with no dramas.”

Tom Rockliff gets his kick away against Melbourne in Round 1. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AAP

Port ruled out co-captains Jonas (calf) and Wines (broken ankle) on Monday, while vice-captain Hamish Hartlett is still battling a hamstring injury in the wake of last year’s ACL injury.

Voss said Motlop had done everything that had been asked of him in the SANFL.

The key had been to get more disposals after a quiet couple of matches in the senior side had him demoted.

“He’s in form and so are most of our guys in the Magpies right now,” Voss said. “He needed to go back and get some touch, to start off with.

“He wasn’t touching the ball a hell of a lot (in the AFL).

“So if you’re able to go back, play some midfield and still get some exposure through half forward and get a heap of the ball … Mots does what Mots does and when he’s finding it, normally something happens.

“The great thing is that we’re bringing in experience.”

Steven Motlop looks set to return after a spell in the SANFL. Picture Dean Martin

Voss also spoke of the importance of Broadbent, who is expected to play off half back.

Rockliff said the Power has zoned in on its poor starts in the lead-up to Saturday night’s Showdown 46 against the Crows at Adelaide Oval.

It was a major concern against Collingwood last weekend, with the Magpies helping themselves to seven unanswered goals in the first quarter, but it wasn’t the only time it had happened this season.

Rockliff said it had been a source of conversation in the lead-up to the Showdown.

“It was really weird because we thought we had a really good build-up in the warm-up on the ground and thought we were ready to go,” Rockliff said. “Collingwood obviously didn’t want to be ambushed, a bit like what we felt did against West Coast, and they probably ambushed us a bit.

“That was disappointing on that front.

“We felt like we wrestled the momentum back but the game was probably shot a quarter time.

“We know how important starts are in games and the best pressure still in footy is scoreboard pressure.

“It’s important that we start well this week against the Crows and it’s something that we’ve talked about as a group.”

Adelaide has been installed as the $1.70 to $2.14 favourite with bookmaker Ladbrokes with Port Adelaide missing star power such as Wines, Jonas, Hartlett, Charlie Dixon, Robbie Gray and the concussed Brad Ebert.