Port Adelaide will use a team effort to quell Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe in AFL opener
PORT Adelaide captain Travis Boak has indicated it will be a team effort to shut down Brownlow fancy and Fremantle’s most dangerous player Nat Fyfe.
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PORT Adelaide captain Travis Boak has indicated it will be a team effort to shut down Brownlow fancy and Fremantle’s most dangerous player Nat Fyfe.
Fyfe, who has had an impressive pre-season and looks ready to recapture his vintage 2015 Brownlow year, can expect a range of Power players to take turns in keeping him in check in Saturday’s Round 1 match at Adelaide Oval.
Boak, who missed the club’s final practice match with leg soreness, said the club’s deep midfield — and options for Fyfe — had become one of Port Adelaide’s greatest assets.
But he had noted the hype surrounding Fyfe.
“There’s no doubt,” Boak said. “And seeing him in the International Rules as well, watching him then he was in pretty good form.
“Look he’s one of the best players in the competition but they’ve got some (other) quality midfielders as well.
“We’ve got to do it as a whole group.
“I think we’ve got some pretty good players to go through that midfield as well to negate him.
“We’ll certainly put pressure on their midfield.
“Not only on Nat but the rest of the midfield as well and if we can get the ball going our way and played in our half that restricts his influence on the game.
“That’s the best way to do it.”
Boak was relishing the prospect of playing alongside another former captain — Brisbane recruit Tom Rockliff.
The former Lions captain is one of six experienced players who made their way to Alberton over summer alongside Jack Watts and Jack Trengove (Melbourne), Lindsay Thomas (North Melbourne), Trent McKenzie (Gold Coast) and Steven Motlop (Geelong).
Rockliff has not taken part in any of the pre-season matches but Boak said he was confident he would make an immediate impact against the Dockers.
He dismissed the suggestion it could be risky to play Rockliff despite not having taken part in any practice matches.
“Rocky trained on Saturday so he’s looking forward to finally wearing the Power colours and getting out there for the first time,” Boak said. “I can’t wait (to play alongside him).
“Playing with ‘Mots’ (Motlop) and ‘Wattsy’ (Watts) already was fantastic and playing with ‘Rocky’ as well, who’s a good mate, is going to be pretty exciting.
“He’s a fantastic pre-season.
“He’s done all the work apart from a couple of weeks when we had to slow him down a little bit.
“But look he’s a player who can come straight in and make an impact straight away.
“There’s no risk, I think, for him to come straight in.
“He’s done all the work, we’ve had match practice this year during the pre-season and he’s done a lot of that so he’ll be ready to go.”
There is a sense that Port Adelaide can now put the painful finals exit to West Coast last season to rest and look ahead.
But Boak said it had both been dissected and used as a motivation over summer and said the players had learn much from the loss.
“There’s no doubt that it hurt,” Boak said. “But reality is that was last year.
“We’ve got to move on from it.
“We’ve learnt from it and we’ve added some things to our game to improve from that and we think that we’re in a better position.”
Robbie Gray will miss the game to a suspension received during the JLT Community Series.
QUOTE
“We’ve got good depth, you need 30 plus to be successful in an AFL season. We had an unbelievable run with injury last year, there’s no doubt about that, and to think we’d have that again this year would be foolish, so we’ve got some depth there.”
PORT ADELAIDE COACH KEN HINKLEY
MEDICAL ROOM
PORT ADELAIDE
T. Boak (hamstring) test
S. Powell-Pepper (shoulder) test
J. Pittard (hamstring) 4-5 weeks
M. Broadbent (ankle) TBA
W. Drew (foot) TBA
C. Hewett (shin) TBA
FREMANTLE
B. Hill (quad) test
M. Apeness (adductor) test
G. Logue (foot) test
S. Hill (calf) 1 week
L. Spurr (knee) 4-6 weeks
S. Giro (knee) 4-6 weeks
H. Bennell (calf) TBA
Originally published as Port Adelaide will use a team effort to quell Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe in AFL opener
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