AFL news: Ollie Lord on standby as Mitch Georgiades battles to prove fitness

Port Adelaide has put one of its rising stars on standby to debut on Friday night as Mitch Georgiades battles to prove his fitness to face Western Bulldogs.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says even a win over the Western Bulldogs this weekend might not stop the questions hanging over the Power this season.

Port will take on the Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval on Friday night, the scene of their preliminary final thumping by the Dogs that ended their 2021 campaign but Hinkley said his side couldn’t look back.

“I’m not qualified to know what mental scarring is going to do or not do to people,” he said.

“All I know is that from one game to the next this competition is so close and changes so quickly I don’t think you can look back and have a guide to the next one.”

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Assistant coach Brett Montgomery said earlier in the week that the Power would be “naive” to think there wouldn’t be any lingering scars or issues from the 71-point thrashing at the hands of the Bulldogs ahead of the two sides meeting for the first time.

After starting the season 0-5 the Power have won their last two games.

A win over the Bulldogs, who have also struggled this year at times, would have the Power getting closer to a winning record with North Melbourne up next.

But Hinkley, who has maintained that his side could still make finals despite the 0-5 start, said a win over the Bulldogs wouldn’t answer some of the questions around the Power.

“We probably won’t get to control that, we’ve started the season in the position that we are,” he said.

“We’ll continue to get questioned, we just need to continue to focus on what we control, which is our preparation day to day.

“We’ll continue to let the questions come and we’ll try and answer them with as much honesty as we can.”

Ollie Lord could debut against Western Bulldogs.

Mitch Georgiades is still yet to prove his fitness.

The Power are sweating on how young key forward Mitch Georgiades gets through Thursday’s captains run after he had scans on the calf that forced him to be subbed out of their one-point win over St Kilda in Cairns.

“We got a scan back that showed some signals so the reality is that we need to get through captains run,” Hinkley said.

“We are hopeful but not certain.”

Young key forward Ollie Lord trained with the senior squad at Adelaide Oval and looks set to make his debut if Georgiades can’t get up.

Star forward Charlie Dixon will play in the SANFL and Hinkley said he would be on some minute restrictions.

Hinkley also said Karl Amon was a required player for the Power, as Victorian clubs look at the out of contract wingman – who was dropped and then a late inclusion two weeks ago against West Coast.

“Whether it needed to happen for Karl it has certainly helped him and he is getting back to the form that we know he can be at, which is in the All-Australian squad,” Hinkley said.

BROWNLOW WINNER REVEALS ANTI-VAX ATTACKS

— Glenn McFarlane

Reigning Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines has revealed a wave of anti-vaxxers falsely claimed he had been “paid off” by pharmaceutical companies after he swiftly refuted accusations his recent heart irregularity had been due to the Covid jab.

Wines was subbed out of the Round 4 game against Melbourne after experiencing nausea and dizziness before spending a night in hospital. He missed the next game after being diagnosed with a heart irregularity, but has been in good form for the Power team in their past two matches.

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Ollie Wines after being subbed out with a heart issue.

The Port Adelaide star said he was “uncomfortable” being drawn into the vaccination debate, especially the wildly inaccurate claims he had been silenced.

“I was uncomfortable because I’ve never had that many Insta (gram) DMs in my life, I had 1,000 anti-vaxxers coming at me, but it was something I could handle,” Wines said on 3AW.

“I wasn’t being paid off, like everyone was saying, by the big pharmaceuticals.”

“It (his heart issue) was nothing to do with the (Covid) vaccines. It was far out of my system. It was to do with a heart rhythm that can happen. It is rare, but it can happen in elite athletes.

“But once it was diagnosed from the experts who have been through years of study to work out what was going wrong, I was really assured.

“We have been able to take some steps from there.”

Wines has played a key role in the Power’s wins over West Coast and St Kilda, to ease some of the pressure on coach Ken Hinkley.