Port Adelaide track watch: Power’s concern over Todd Marshall, considering Charlie Dixon, Kane Farrell for preliminary final clash

Ryan Burton and Charlie Dixon are pressing their cases, as is the hamstrung Kane Farrell. However, concerns over Todd Marshall’s future are lingering. Catch all the news from Port Adelaide training.

Port Adelaide defence coach Tyson Goldsack says Kane Farrell will be “touch and go” for a surprise return for the Power’s preliminary final against Sydney.

But while Goldsack said it “probably isn’t a risk that we really want to take” he said the halfback has “nothing to lose” by having a red-hot crack at trying to return from his high-grade hamstring strain that was initially thought to be season ending.

Goldsack also said Charlie Dixon and Ryan Burton would have to prove their fitness in the Power’s main training session this week after they missed the thrilling semi-final win over Hawthorn.

Farrell took part in the Power’s light training session at Alberton on Monday.

Kane Farrell during Port Adelaide training at Alberton on Monday. Picture: Brenton Edwards

He suffered a high-grade hamstring strain in Round 24 against Fremantle, which Port initially deemed as season-ending.

But after resuming running earlier this month and kicking over the weekend Farrell could make a stunning return for Friday night’s clash at the SCG.

“He needs to hit high speed probably more often and repeat efforts,” Goldsack said.

“So we will keep training him and he will keep pushing along and we will see where the next few days lead to.

“It will be touch and go, it probably isn’t a risk that we really want to take.

“We know the quality of player that he is but do you risk it in a prelim? We don’t really know yet, it is Monday so we will see how he progresses.

“He wouldn’t be training if he didn’t think he was a chance, he has nothing to lose knowing that if he does re-injure it at training then at least he gave it a go.

“So he will keep pushing it along and whether it is for this week or for next year he will be in a better spot for trying.”

Charlie Dixon is in the mix for Port Adelaide. Picture Mark Brake

Does Ryan Burton return for the Power? Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Dixon and Burton will also be hoping to return for the preliminary final.

Dixon was a late withdrawal from the side on Friday because of illness but looms as the likely replacement for the concussed Todd Marshall as he trained on Monday.

“He is feeling OK now, he is now up for selection I assume,” Goldsack said.

“Again another one you want to get training and get his heart rate up and make sure that he is performing well.

“That will come later in the week.”

Burton had a fitness test on Thursday for a calf issue, which Goldsack described as a weird one.

“It wasn’t muscular, it was more a blood vessel issue that caused some swelling and irritation,” he said.

“So he didn’t actually hurt a muscle but there was a chance he would because he had tightness in certain movements that he had.

“So we had to make sure that subsided and he can do all the movements needed for four quarters of footy.”

In his place Jase Burgoyne was switched from a wing to the backline and had his best game for the Power with 25 disposals, nine marks and a goal.

After the game teammate Josh Sinn said Burgoyne was “so much better than what he is at the moment it is scary”.

Goldsack said Burgoyne had to be coached “a bit different”.

“He has this real laconic way of life where he kind of floats through,” he said.

“He works hard and his attention to detail is there but you don’t really see it or feel it. But he has down a mountain of work in learning the roles he needs to learn.

“And we talk about the unfazed mentality of him and that probably helps his ability to go out there and perform.

“He is not the same as other players, we know that Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis are really mentally aggressive in the way they go about their training.

“I’m not saying Jase is not diligent but he just has a laconic way of doing it so it looks different so then you have to coach him a bit different and allow him to be that free mind.”

PORT’S CONCERN OVER KEY FORWARD’S FUTURE

Port Adelaide assistant Tyson Goldsack says the Power “don’t know what it looks like” for Todd Marshall after his latest concussion as the key forward’s return to the game after passing a SCAT6 before ultimately being subbed out reignited calls for a biomarker to be developed to improve diagnosis during matches.

The future of Marshall hangs under a cloud after he suffered a second concussion in 35 days in the Power’s thrilling semi-final win over Hawthorn, his fifth in just over three years.

Todd Marshall of the Power was taken from the ground in the semi-final. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

The 25-year-old, who signed a five-year contract in February, copped a knee to the back of the head from teammate Mitch Georgiades in the second quarter at Adelaide Oval.

He was removed from play and underwent a SCAT6 test and passed, returning to the game.

But he was later subbed out of the game and after reporting he was not feeling 100 per cent, he failed a further concussion test post game.

Goldsack said on Monday that footy was second for Marshall right now.

Fifth concussion for Todd Marshall in just over three-years. Misses the prelim and now there's a big cloud over his future @superfootyhttps://t.co/Buffi4NPkp

— Simeon Thomas-Wilson (@Simeon_TW) September 14, 2024

“Todd is OK, yeah OK. As good as he can be,” he said.

“We don’t know what it looks like for Todd. We know that it is unfortunate and he has a history so we want to make sure that him as a person is OK and the footy is second to that.

“I don’t think there is anything to speak about other than making sure he is OK, mentally he is OK and that we are there to support him.

“The footy part is just footy and that’s a long way down the road from where we need to be thinking for him.”

Any discussion or decision on Marshall’s future in the game is set to be made once the Power’s season finishes.

Port Adelaide forward Todd Marshall has entered concussion protocols following a head knock on Friday night.

— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) September 14, 2024

Dr Alan Pearce, a neuroscientist and leading concussion expert, said it was worrying for Marshall that he was getting quite regular concussions with the key forward sustaining two in a month last year as well.

“The fact that Todd has had five now in just over three years does need to get taken into consideration about his longer-term brain health,” he said.

“He is mid 20s, so got to think about not just the rest of his career but what happens in 20 to 25-years-time so he has to take that into consideration as well.

“The fact that he is having quite regular concussions within a short space of time is a concern.”

The Power copped a $100,000 fine for breaching concussion management protocols around Aliir Aliir and Lachie Jones in the Showdown last year.

Goldsack said everyone at the club was comfortable about how Marshall was managed on Friday night even though he has a history of concussion.

Todd Marshall‘s future is under a cloud. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“I think the doctors did a good job, they assessed him and he felt fine almost as if the initial assessment wasn’t required,” he said.

“But we have to do those things, we didn’t take any risks there so we made sure we did the test, he got cleared for that and when he reported that he wasn’t feeling 100 per cent then we decided we have to take him off.”

Dr Pearce said this showed the concerns around the sensitivity of the SCAT6 test.

“It is good that Port Adelaide are being really honest here and admitted that he was concussed although the fact they used the SCAT6 initially and said you are fine and ultimately he was concussed,” he said.

“This is where we need to be incorporating and developing and pushing the science on a biomarker that can actually go “yep you have had a release of this molecule, you might be appearing asymptomatic but what we are expecting is that you have had a concussion and you don’t realise it yet”.”

Marshall will miss this week’s preliminary final against the Swans on Friday night but as per the AFL’s current policy could be out of concussion protocols for a grand final should the Power win and he clears each step as quickly as he can.

The Power have been very cautious with Marshall’s return to games after his last two concussions, so him being rushed back into the side seems unlikely.

Dr Pearce said a scenario like this would be an extremely tough one especially since players had conceded they were hiding symptoms of concussion.

“What is the price of a premiership? That is the concern that his medical team, his coaches and himself and those close to him need to take into consideration,” he said.

Originally published as Port Adelaide track watch: Power’s concern over Todd Marshall, considering Charlie Dixon, Kane Farrell for preliminary final clash