Lowdown Podcast: Tom Rockliff aiming for Power return after being omitted in Round 6
Dropped Port Adelaide midfielder Tom Rockliff has been training on his own, away from the playing group, after contracting a cold. The COVID-19 test has come back negative but the week in isolation has made earning a recall difficult
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Axed Port Adelaide midfielder Tom Rockliff has been isolated from the playing group for the past week and training on his own while he recovers from a cold, but hopes to crack back into the Power side soon.
Dropped a fortnight ago, Rockliff was an emergency for last week’s game against Carlton but stayed in Adelaide after being sent home from training after coming down with a cough and sore throat.
A COVID test cleared him of the virus, but he was unable to play in last weekend’s trial game against the Crows which would have been a chance for him to push his case for a senior recall.
“Unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to, I had a bit of a cough late in the week, me and my partner both got it at the same time,” Rockliff told The Lowdown Podcast.
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“With everything that’s going on at the moment the doc said ‘you better go home’ because I had a sore throat and had the COVID test and came back all clear.
“But you still don’t want anything like that to spread so I didn’t play on Saturday and even yesterday (Monday) they said stay away from the group, so I had another COVID test and I should be right to train (on Thursday) and I would imagine I’d be right to play in the trial game depending on what happens at selection.
“It’s pretty much been like I’ve been back in iso, down at an oval yesterday running by myself to tick the legs over.
“It’s been a different sort of week but we know the circumstances at the moment, you don’t want anything to spread even if it’s a cold or flu.”
Rockliff expects to spend at least another week out of the Power’s side but hopes the 20-day footy blitz coming up will enhance his prospects of getting a call-up.
“I think it would be pretty hard for me to come back in, not playing and training for a week, so I think we play another trial game against the Crows on Saturday afternoon so I would imagine I’d get my opportunity there to rip in,” he said.
“Then we have a four-day break after that into another four-day break so I’ve just got to find some footy and hopefully the opportunity arises to get back out there and play senior footy.
“I think most clubs the depth of their list will be tested during this period and you’re going to see a lot more changes to teams so it may potentially work in my favour for an opportunity to get back in.
“And hopefully I can hold onto that spot and make sure I’m doing everything I can to perform.”
Rockliff was full of praise for senior coach Ken Hinkley who did not hide his emotions after Robbie Gray kicked the game-winning goal after the siren against the Blues last weekend.
“He rides the emotion of the game, I think all senior coaches do, but particularly when they’re close games and we’ve seen that in the past in Showdowns.
“That game you’re sitting in the box and have no control over the outcome of the game in a situation like that, and for Robbie to slot it, it got the better of him and Chris Davies and in the press conference as well he had a little slip up but he’s a passionate guy and something the guys feed off when he’s up and about.”
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CROWS KEEP FOCUS ON OWN SCOREBOARD
Winless Adelaide is using its own internal scoreboard to measure improvement this season as Brodie Smith hails the appointment and performance of stand-in skipper Tom Doedee.
At 0-7 the Crows have made their worst ever start to an AFL season and while Smith is adamant the mood remains positive at West Lakes, he says the team must start winning and not take comfort in getting close.
“From day one Nicksy (coach Matthew Nicks) has been about our scoreboard, not the scoreboard so to speak, our scoreboard is our KPI’s around contest and those things,” Smith told The Lowdown Podcast.
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“And we are getting better each week on our own scoreboard, we got our contest back to a good level and are letting the detail slip a bit like skill errors or lapses like on Monday night with centre bounce and they (St Kilda) kicked three goals and it was game over.
“There’s no doubt we’re seeing improvement and the culture is really good, we know we’re getting better but it is time to start winning games of footy.
“It’s a really good feel around the club, but it is time to start winning. We’ve built this good culture and guys are coming in on their day off to get work done just because they want to be there.
“We’ve done that and focused on getting better but it’s time to win games of footy and have that winning mentality, because we can’t keep improving and copping two or three goal losses.”
Smith is in Adelaide’s leadership group but at 28 was overlooked for the Crows’ captaincy in favour of 23-year-old Doedee while Sloane is out injured, and said it was the right choice.
“It was a good decision, obviously I would have loved to have done it, everyone in the leadership group would have loved to do it,” Smith said.
“But I think it was a great decision looking forward with the age demographic of our leadership group, Tommy is a young man and by the time Sloaney finishes up he’s going to be in that prime position to take over.
“There are a lot of guys like Chayce Jones coming through with heaps of leadership in them so it made sense to give Tommy Doedee a run and a taste of it, and he was unbelievable, he was the best player on the ground for us.
“He led the way really well, was really positive in the warm-up and his pre-game speech was good which is always a nervous moment I’d imagine for the first time skipper.
“So he ticked all the boxes and did everything right so it was a huge night for Tommy which was great.
“While he was tossing the coin Lynchy and Tex had a few words, firing the boys up and reminding ourselves of what we were going after and what we wanted to stand for.
“And Tommy came in and spoke about how exciting it was to have the crowd there, and how positive we were trying to be going into the game and reassured us what the game plan was and our key focuses and the boys were definitely fired up early.”
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Originally published as Lowdown Podcast: Tom Rockliff aiming for Power return after being omitted in Round 6