Crows assistant Ben Hart joins list of coaches looking at options as Port Adelaide deals with Giants’ interest in Matthew Nicks
PREPARATIONS for Showdown 45 have closed with the Crows and Port Adelaide confirming their line-ups — and doubt as to who will be working with Don Pyke and Ken Hinkley in the coaches’ boxes next season.
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PORT Adelaide and the Crows have closed their training preparations for Showdown 45 with coaches Ken Hinkley and Don Pyke confirming they have no last-minute need to rethink selection for the windswept derby at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
The Showdown — that could formally 12th-ranked Adelaide’s season and also derail the fourth-placed Power’s top-four aspirations — is now overshadowed by which coaching teams Pyke and Hinkley will have next season.
Senior Power assistant Matthew Nicks is being courted by Greater Western Sydney to next season return to the Harbor City where he played for the Swans.
And Crows defensive coach Ben Hart — and SANFL coach Ryan O’Keefe — have put their names on the AFL Coaches’ Association list of assistant coaches measuring opportunities away from their current clubs. The list has 13 names including former Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus leaving Gold Coast and former Carlton coach Brett Ratten leaving Hawthorn.
Nicks’ name is not on the list — and he is expected to clear up speculation on his future next week. At this stage, he is likely to stay at Alberton.
Pyke insists Hart will be at West Lakes next year — and has declared the former Crows defender, who is in his second stint as an assistant coach at West Lakes, will keep his role with the Crows.
“He has been offered a contract for next year,” Pyke told The Advertiser on Friday. “There is no uncertainty from our point of view.”
Port Adelaide trained indoors at Alberton on Friday morning after Hinkley named an unchanged 22, keeping the team that broke a two-game losing streak by beating the Western Bulldogs at Ballarat on Sunday. Hinkley has dismissed any concern with key defender Jack Hombsch, who hobbled with knee soreness from Ballarat.
And Hinkley says the hail, gale and freezing temperatures at Ballarat will serve no use in preparing the Power players for the northerly winds that are to sweep over the Saturday twilight derby.
“Nothing (comes) from what Ballarat prepared us for — it was quite different,” Hinkley said.
Pyke regains long-kicking defender Brodie Smith after 11 months of the sidelines with a knee injury. He is one of four changes that bring experienced midfielder-defender David Mackay, Rising Star-nominated defender Tom Doedee and midfielder Cam Ellis-Yolmen into to the derby that Adelaide mist win to keep alive very slim chances of being part of September’s top-eight finals.
Pyke has one bit of advice for Smith, who returns to the AFL after two SANFL games: “Get back and play.
“It is a fantastic considering the work he has done — and he has worked his butt off to create the opportunity to play footy this season,” Pyke said.
“I know he is looking forward to the game. We know the quality of the player. For me, expectation is not what it is about with Brodie Smith. It is just about coming back and playing and doing what he loves to do.”
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au