Geelong, Melbourne tracking out-of-favour Port Adelaide forward Ollie Lord

An SA footy great has expressed his surprise that Ollie Lord continues to be overlooked by Port Adelaide as two Victorian clubs closely monitor his situation with an eye to a trade move.

Port Adelaide has given its new-look attack a mulligan after the poor round-1 showing against Collingwood.

But the Power continuing to overlook key forward Ollie Lord, who is piquing the interest of rival clubs.

Port stuck with the same two-talls attack that misfired in the 91-point loss to the Magpies, not selecting Lord for a second consecutive week, even among the emergencies, to face Richmond at home on Saturday.

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Lord was tipped to receive more opportunities with Charlie Dixon (retired), Todd Marshall (achilles) and Jeremy Finlayson (playing in defence) missing from the forward line.

Wanting to field a smaller attack and Lord being “a little bit off in terms of his own form” are keeping him out of the side, according to senior assistant Josh Carr.

Harder than it had to be... but Ollie Lord has his first goal in the AFL 😅@Team_Optimum | #AFLPowerEaglespic.twitter.com/JoT2on2LuI

— AFL (@AFL) April 22, 2023

The 23-year-old’s absence from the line-up is understood to have Victorian clubs with previous interest, including Melbourne and Geelong, keeping tabs.

Lord is contracted until the end of 2026.

“In previous years he’s been knocking the door down,” Carr said.

“He’s probably a little bit of a product of those pre-season injuries (to Ivan Soldo and Dante Visentini) because in the pre-season games, he played in the ruck a lot.

“We’re just trying to give him his best chance now to go forward at the Maggies (SANFL) and get his form up so that when he comes into the AFL team, he comes in with confidence.”

Brownlow Medallist and Fox Footy expert Mark Ricciuto was surprised Lord was not chosen.

“I like what I’ve seen from him in the past and do like having a big fella in the team,” Ricciuto told this masthead.

“I was a big Charlie Dixon fan and Ollie Lord is not dissimilar to Charlie.”

Ollie Lord has interest from Victorian clubs.

Reigning leading goalkicker, Mitch Georgiades, and recruit Jack Lukosius are the only Power players taller than 187cm expected to spend the majority of Saturday’s game in attack.

Last year Port selected four of Dixon, Marshall, Georgiades, Jeremy Finlayson and Lord together in eight matches, most recently against Gold Coast in round 18.

Sam Powell-Pepper is 187cm, while Darcy Byrne-Jones (181cm), Willie Rioli (177cm), Joe Richards (177cm) and Joe Berry (180cm) are all small forwards.

With no Marshall, Finlayson, Lord, Soldo or Visentini, Ollie Wines was the Power’s back-up ruckman last Saturday night.

“Coaches and players always know a lot more than people on the outside, but Saturday against Richmond will tell a story about whether Ollie Wines should be their second ruck and whether they do need Ollie Lord in the side as another big fella to aim for,” Ricciuto said.

Jeremy Finlayson was the sole player dropped after Port Adelaide’s heavy loss to Collingwood.

Carr forecast that Finlayson would return to attack from defence after being the sole Power player dropped this week.

Finlayson impressed in the backline against St Kilda but was widely criticised for some of his poor efforts last round.

“We probably just felt he’s not there as far as the position goes,” Carr said of the omission.

“There were aspects of his game last weekend that we were not happy with.

“Jezza knows what they are … I don’t think I need to make that public.

“If you think about Jezza and his strengths, it’s definitely as a forward/ruck combination.”

Finlayson shifted to the backline to help cover for injured talls Brandon Zerk-Thatcher and Esava Ratugolea.

Ratugolea is close to AFL selection after playing more than a half a SANFL trial last week.

Originally published as Geelong, Melbourne tracking out-of-favour Port Adelaide forward Ollie Lord