Track Watch: All the latest pre-season notes and scouting news from Port Adelaide
Two Port Adelaide young guns hope a trip to the USA might be enough for them and the club to get past nagging soft tissue injuries, as the Power made their pre-season return on Thursday.
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Port Adelaide defender Lachie Jones says he is hopeful a trip he and fellow young guns Jason Horne-Francis and Josh Sinn took stateside to learn more about soft tissue injury prevention will not only benefit them but the wider playing list.
The Power resumed pre-season after the Christmas break for players on Thursday.
It was a light session for Power players, with the entire playing list bar Tom Anastasopoulos (knee) on the track.
Rigiouress testing will be conducted on Friday for the playing group.
Defenders Miles Bergman and Ryan Burton and forward Sam Powell-Pepper participated fully in drills after being managed prior to the break.
It was a later start to pre-season for Jones after his 10-day trip to the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Horne-Francis, Sinn and Power physio and fitness staff.
“Just around soft tissue and hamstring pretty much, they have been doing a lot of research into causes of hamstring strains and how to avoid it so the three of us spent a bit of time there with people from the club,” Jones said.
“Just some of the testing was working out what muscles aren’t working as well as they should be and how we can improve that, the way our body is moving and the things we need to change.
“It was fairly positive, there were a few things that we picked up on that can not only prevent but future proof our bodies and fix them now and get rid of some of the little stuff that has caused issues for myself and the other boys.
“I think it was good learning for myself and the other boys but also good learnings for the physios and that. So they can bring it in for the other boys as well and help them.”
The Power will be hoping that the trip benefits Sinn in particular, with injuries limiting him to just the 10 games since being drafted in 2021.
Jones said he was confident it would help his fellow defender.
“More in the gym, just focusing on some muscle groups that need to be worked on that probably led to those issues,” he said.
“So a lot of it is to do in the gym and with technique and stuff, some different exercises that we can do in the gym that we haven’t done previously.
“And now that we have incorporated it in, I know us three boys who went over we have all jumped on board and it is really exciting to do something different.
“He (Sinn) has gone through the same as I have with the tendon stuff and he is probably still in that stage where you are a bit nervous about it happening again.
“And I think that gives someone like him a lot of confidence that if he gets it right he has the data to show what needs to be fixed and if he gets it right it gives him the best chance to play as much as possible.”
A fully fit Sinn could go some way towards the Power filling the hole left in defence by Dan Houston going to Collingwood.
Jones said there were a number of players who could step up.
“The back end of last year when we didn’t have him we were able to fill that hole, there’s a list of names there... Burton, (Kane) Farrell, Sinn, Logan Evans, if Jase (Burgoyne) goes back there he showed he can go back and play,” he said.
“I think we have a good group of young small defenders who can fill Dan’s position as that attacking half back.
“It will work itself out and I have good confidence that we can fill that hole.”
Jones played 21 games for the Power in 2024, but said he wanted to be a lot more consistent in his footy in 2025.
“Last year I was fortunate enough to be able to play a lot of games but probably not to the standard and quality of where I wanted to be and where the team needed me to be,” he said.
“So I just want to play consistent footy from the get go.”
Originally published as Track Watch: All the latest pre-season notes and scouting news from Port Adelaide
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