Ryder, Gray and Marshall go down as Port blows golden opportunity in Perth
PORT Adelaide’s narrow loss to Fremantle on Sunday has been compounded by the loss to injury of two of the team’s most important players, ruckman Paddy Ryder and forward/midfielder Robbie Gray.
PORT Adelaide is counting the cost of a horror day in the West, with its shock loss to Fremantle compounded by injuries to star ruckman Paddy Ryder and triple club champion Robbie Gray.
And emerging key forward Todd Marshall could be lost for the season after suffering a serious ankle injury in the SANFL match against the Crows in Kadina.
Coach Ken Hinkley said there is a “significant chance’’ that Ryder will “miss more than one game’’ with a right hip flexor injury.
MATCH REPORT: COMICAL SKILL LEVEL IN HORROR LOSS
ANALYSIS: FREO PRESSURE HIGHLIGHTS POWER’S WEAK LINKS
And he said Gray is in doubt for next Sunday’s big clash with GWS at Adelaide Oval after he was knocked out in a dangerous tackle by Docker Ryan Nyhuis four minutes into the third quarter of the disastrous nine-point loss to the Dockers at Perth Stadium.
Gray was stretchered from the field in an incident that Hinkley described as “illegal’’ as his head was buried into the hard Perth Stadium surface in a crunching tackle.
“It’s unfortunate when you lose your best player like that and it’s a hard one because that’s exactly what you’re not supposed to do,’’ said Hinkley.
“Without putting anyone in trouble — and it’s a really difficult one because players don’t set out deliberately to cause injuries like that — but when you tackle and you take that the responsibility away from the player landing you put yourself in some trouble, so clearly there will be.’’
Hinkley said Gray was “feeling OK’’ after the game but that he would have to pass concussion protocols to play against the Giants, who conquered premier Richmond on Saturday night.
“We’ll wait to see how Robbie is but clearly we wouldn’t take any risks with a guy like him at any stage. We’ll make sure he’s OK,’’ he said.
Hinkley said Ryder, who missed rounds two to six with an Achilles injury, hurt his hip flexor when he pushed off in a contest and “felt it go’’.
“So we’ll miss some footy again unfortunately,’’ he said.
“We don’t know how long that will be until we get him scanned. But there’s a significant chance he’s going to miss more than one.
“There’s no doubt he’ll be a big loss for us but we’ve seen some big players come out of the competition, including (West Coast’s) Nic Naitanui (yesterday with a knee injury).
“We’ve just got to deal with it, get on with it and not use it as an excuse because every team in the competition has a run of injuries and ours is now.’’
Port’s best defender Tom Jonas also is on the sidelines with a knee injury.
With the lack of a second strong ruckman, Hinkley forecast key forward Charlie Dixon and swingman Justin Westhoff would share the ruck duties in Ryder’s absence like they did earlier in the season.
“It’s something that we will have to work through but we’ve always had it in our mind with Paddy, his durability, it’s always been a little bit of a question for us,’’ he said.
Port will discover the full extent of Marshall’s injury on Monday but Hinkley acknowledged “it hasn’t been a great day for us’’.
Hinkley said half-back Riley Bonner, who hurt his knee in a tackle, should be fine to play against the Giants.
As for the result, Hinkley noted Port had wasted a big opportunity to consolidate a top four spot, slipping to fifth, and was highly critical of the team’s skill level.
“We came over here with an opportunity and we messed it up badly,’’ he said.
“We are really disappointed and angry that we blew that opportunity but we have and we’ve got to move forward and get better.’’