Port Adelaide track watch: Esava Ratugolea racing the clock for round 1 after surgery

With Brandon Zerk-Thatcher already ruled out, and Esava Ratugolea facing an uphill battle to be ready for round 1, who will partner Aliir Aliir in defence against Collingwood?

Esava Ratugolea has gone under the knife, potentially leaving Port Adelaide short for key defensive options to start the season.

Ratugolea hurt his knee in the final moments of the Power’s warm-up at training on Monday.

Scans revealed he had pinched his meniscus, avoiding a serious injury but he was to consult a specialist about whether surgery was required.

On Wednesday, he went under the knife to trim his meniscus.

Port Adelaide footy boss Chris Davies said the Power had a range of four to six weeks for Ratugolea, but he could also be in the mix for Round 1 against Collingwood in just over a month’s time.

“We had a broad range of probably between four to six weeks before he had that surgery and I haven’t heard anything different since,” he said on SEN.

“I reckon he will still be pushing for Round 1.

“The good part is that he hasn’t missed any other sessions so he still has a good block of conditioning.

“How that goes for Round 1 I guess we will probably know over the next few weeks.”

The Power are already without key defender Brandon Zerk-Thatcher for the start of the season after his back injury.

Should Ratugolea miss time it would leave the Power with just Aliir Aliir as a senior key defensive option with the untried Xavier Walsh in his second year at Alberton and basketballer Jacob Moss only recently coming to the club as Category B rookie.

The Power could play Miles Bergman as a hybrid tall defender as happened during match sim on Monday as Port pitted its strongest attack and defence against each other.

With Ratugolea and Zerk-Thatcher on the sidelines, as well as Lachie Jones as he deals with an adductor issue, the Power’s strongest backline consisted of Aliir, Bergman, Ryan Burton, Kane Farrell, Josh Sinn and Logan Evans.

Esava Ratugolea is in doubt for the start of the season. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Aliir and Bergman played as talls with Farrell taking kick-ins.

In the forwards group was Mitch Georgiades, Jack Lukosius, Ollie Lord, Joe Richards, Willie Rioli, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Sam Powell-Pepper and Joe Berry.

Berry was wearing a pink non-contact hat after he sustained a poke to the eye just under two weeks ago.

Richards had some very impressive moments with some pressure acts that led to goals during match sim.

Originally published as Port Adelaide track watch: Esava Ratugolea racing the clock for round 1 after surgery