’Hard to change’: Chad Cornes gives hint on how Port Adelaide solve Todd Marshall dilemma
Todd Marshall is looking more likely than not to be fit for next weekend, and Chad Cornes says he’s in the Power’s best 23. But where does he line up and does he come straight in?
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Port Adelaide key forward Todd Marshall could have to return to footy via the SANFL should he prove his fitness this week, with forwards coach Chad Cornes it will be hard for the Power to change the mix it is rolling with in attack.
Marshall hasn’t played since the Power’s Round 18 loss to Gold Coast, when he hurt his hip.
He was still feeling the issue over the weekend, and had to watch on as the Power thumped Sydney by 112-points in an amazing showing by Port.
This was done with the Power again going with Esava Ratugolea as a forward, alongside Charlie Dixon and Mitch Georgiades.
This mix has coincided with the Power beating Carlton in Melbourne and then the ladder-leading Swans at Adelaide Oval as finals and even a top four spot gets closer for Port.
Marshall was put through his paces at Alberton Oval on Monday ahead of a potential return to action this week.
Cornes said it would be an “interesting selection discussion” for the Power.
“Firstly he needs to get through training,” Cornes said.
“I think Toddy is still in our best team when he is performing well but it is hard to change that forward line
“In particular guys like Frankie Evans are coming in and playing a really important role for us
the three talls and Mitch playing further up the ground and I have loved what Esava has brought over the last couple of weeks.
“If it was my decision he would be staying there for the short term at least, I have loved his contest and Charlie is back in good form as well.
“Having two really tall forwards who can take contested marks and win battles has been a highlight for us recently.
“All of the scans are clear but he still had some awareness of it on the weekend.
“We will see how it pulls up but yeah it will be an interesting selection discussion later in the week.”
The Power are now preparing to take on Melbourne off the back of its sensational win over the Swans – who have been the frontrunners of the competition for most of the year.
Port were applauded off the field after its stellar start over the Swans on Saturday, just weeks after the Power and senior coach Ken Hinkley were booed in the humiliating loss to Brisbane.
Cornes said the Power not overreacting to the Lions loss was behind the change in form.
“It was a different feel walking off this week compared to six week ago,” he said.
“But I think it is a credit to the players, the coaches, everyone who works in the footy department.
“We didn’t overreact to the Brisbane loss, we learnt a lot from it and I think the education that the coaches have given the players and the way the players have taken that on board and executed it on game day has been outstanding.
“Our connection on field during that Brisbane game was pretty poor to be honest, so that has been a real focus since and the players have worked on that driven by Connor (Rozee).
“It looked like a really connected team on the weekend.”
HINKLEY URGES PLAYERS TO SAVOUR WIN
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley urged his players to enjoy their record-breaking smackdown of ladder leaders Sydney knowing that the Power squad is healthy and in control of its own destiny at the pointy end of the season as he ponders how to deploy his tall timber.
The surging Power picked up nearly seven precious percentage points from Saturday night’s remarkable 112-point demolition of the Swans, which launched Hinkley’s side up the ladder and took it a step closer to securing a top-four finish.
With three games left in the home-and-away season, Port are one of the form teams of the competition, having won five of its past six games after being booed off Adelaide Oval following a heavy Round 16 to the Brisbane Lions.
“There’s no point going back, the game’s too hard, you just stay in the moment,” Hinkley replied when asked to reflect on that dark day.
“We’ll enjoy the victory.
“Everyone wants us to be winning every week, I get it, but every team has had a night like Sydney had.
“Every team has had that night this year.
“We had that against Brisbane six weeks ago, it doesn’t mean we can’t have that again and we hope that we never do, but we just had a really, really bad day.
“You can’t look at that game and go, ‘That’s who we are’ because we’ve been much better than that.
“We’ve been really consistent, but we had a bad night.”
The Power mentor said he would urge his charges to enjoy the victory.
“The comp is so hard that you’ve got to enjoy it,” Hinkley said.
“You don’t get many games like that, clearly.
“There’s not a player on our team that didn’t play a significant part in that victory, you have to have that win games as big as that, so they should enjoy it.
“But I think they’re pretty determined with what they’re trying to achieve, and I hope that they can keep their noses down and eyes on the contest and see what happens from here.
“It’s hard to keep it at the level that we have been at in the last six quarters, but hopefully we can and if we can, that will give us a great opportunity.
“The comp says ‘Lose one and you’re out of the eight’ … that’s how it feels, but importantly we pick up a bit of percentage, which could also be pretty important in the run home.
“We can control where we finish by finishing the way that we want to finish.
“We are healthy at the moment and that certainly helps.
“We’re much healthier this year than we were this time last year.”
Mitch Georgiades and Willie Rioli each bagged four goals in a forward line that had 12 goalkickers in the astonishing drubbing that saw the Power put 71 points on the board before Sydney scored at all.
Defender Esava Ratugolea was inaccurate but lively in his second match redeployed as a forward, leaving Hinkley with an interesting selection decision to make with Todd Marshall set to return from injury.
“One goal, four (behinds) would suggest he does need to go back, doesn’t it?” Hinkley replied with a wry grin when asked for his thoughts on the Ratugolea experiment.
“No, I think he’s playing really well in that area of the ground … we’ve had Todd out, so we’ve had to explore that a little bit.
“Good on him for welcoming that opportunity because he did come with his mind set on playing back, but we knew he could play forward.
“Hopefully, he allows us to be flexible.”
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