Power, Crows coaches back returning big men to make a difference

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says veteran forward Justin Westhoff will rise to the challenge of the local derby, as Crows boss Don Pyke is confident Josh Jenkins will be fit to play.

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Port Adelaide has had all week to stew over a costly loss to the Western Bulldogs but coach Ken Hinkley doesn’t expect them to play on edge any more than any other week going into Saturday night’s Showdown 47 with Adelaide.

Hinkley said his four unforced changes at selection were “pretty predictable” after Tom Rockliff and Justin Westhoff forced their way back with irresistible SANFL form and Karl Amon and Dougal Howard returned from suspension.

“No more than any other week,” Hinkley said when asked whether he’d noticed a steely resolve in his team this week.

Coach Ken Hinkley during a Port Adelaide training session at Alberton Oval on Thursday. Picture: AAP Image/Kelly Barnes

“We’ve been that side that’s been one win, one loss, we haven’t quite been able to get it right.

“We’re 7-7, the Crows sit 8-6, we’re not that far apart on the ladder, we’ve copped a bit more scrutiny over our inconsistency, we get there, we understand where it starts and stops and we know that for us is a midfield battle so we have to get that right.

“We’ve got two boys who were suspended come back and were in pretty good form, and Rockliff deserves to get picked after 57 and Westy couldn’t have done any more.

“People get out of form and they can respond quickly, and Westy certainly went back and did everything he possibly could to play, and he’s got a bit of a Showdown record so we’ll give him a go.

“We will be as selected unless something changes overnight.”

Adelaide’s Josh Jenkins taken from the Adelaide Oval playing field with a knee injury late in the Crows Round 13 game. Picture: Sarah Reed

Adelaide has made three unforced changes with Josh Jenkins’ quicker-than-expected recovery from a knee injury and Wayne Milera and David Mackay also returning.

“He (Jenkins) hyper extended that knee just before the bye and the early concerns were from an ACL viewpoint, but once we cleared that up it was just a matter of how quickly it was going to settle down,” Crows coach Don Pyke said.

“As we saw with Paul Seedsman earlier in the year, he had a bit more extensive bone bruising out of it, where as Josh was able to get away with not too much.

“Then it was a matter of get the swelling down, start him moving and I think he’s on record as saying I think he’s surprised himself how quickly he’s come good.

“He was moving freely at training on Wednesday and even this morning he’s feeling very, very confident and that’s why we’re prepared to put him back in.”

The trio replaces Elliott Himmelberg, Ben Davis and Bryce Gibbs who were all dropped and it is the fourth time Gibbs has been axed from the senior side this season.

“Bryce is not in the best of form, he’d be the first to admit that, he didn’t have the game he wanted last week and he’d be disappointed about that, but we’re working hard with him in terms of getting him back into good form and playing the sort of footy he’s capable of,” Pyke said.

Tom Lynch will miss a fourth game with a calf injury despite completing training on Wednesday.

“He trained pretty much fully on Wednesday and did the whole session but could still feel it, and we took a cautious view that we don’t want to push that given the demands and speed of the game if he gets exposed to that and isn’t 100 per cent confident,” Pyke said.

“I keep saying we’re hopeful next week but that’s the reality, it’s just taking a little longer to settle down and come good to get him at full 100 per cent.”

Hinkley said he wasn’t surprised on the external heat put on co-captain Ollie Wines during the week and he expected him to respond with a big game on Saturday night.

“He’s one of our captains and like any player of that quality he expects some heat when he’s not played as well as he would like to,” Hinkley said.

“What we understand with the greatest respect to the Crows, their banner says the team for all South Australians - that’s not quite right, we have 300,000 Port Adelaide supporters who think this game is pretty important as well so we look forward to having our opportunity.” pic.twitter.com/GMLKmDdqMw

— Reece Homfray (@reecehomfray) July 5, 2019

“Our midfield has copped some heat and they should have — when we’ve been beaten in that area of the ground we’ve been beaten badly and Ollie leads that area so he’d be OK with it, he’ll respond pretty well.

“Tomorrow night he’ll show what it means to him and he’ll go out there and play the way he would like to play … you get a chance to respond and Ollie gets that tomorrow night.”