Port Adelaide key forward John Butcher is still optimistic he can play for the Power in its season opening game against Sydney. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: The Advertiser
PORT Adelaide is refusing to rule key forward John Butcher out of its premiership season opener against Melbourne.
While scans last night confirmed the injury-plagued Butcher has a greenstick fracture in the right wrist he hurt against premier Sydney on Saturday, the club insists he can play with the injury until it fully heals.
The Power has withdrawn Butcher from any SANFL trial match action this weekend.
But it claims the injury will not stop him from playing against the Demons if he is considered to have had enough match-hardening this pre-season.
Butcher broke a small bone in his wrist while attempting to spoil star Sydney onballer Josh Kennedy in a marking contest during the third quarter of Port's surprise five-goal win at AAMI Stadium.
The extent of the injury only surfaced after the game.
Power coaching director Alan Richardson said the talented but injury-prone Butcher, who has played only 12 games in three years because of a series of back, hip and soft tissue injuries, would wear a guard to protect his damaged wrist for at least the first month of the season.
"But it shouldn't stop him from playing," Richardson said. "The injury is unfortunate for 'Butch' but the break is on the minor scale and with a protective guard our doctors say it shouldn't affect his performance at all."
However playing Butcher in round one on such a restricted pre-season would be a massive risk - and one Port is unlikely to take.
Butcher only resumed full training a month ago after undergoing hip surgery after round 15 last year to repair a labral tear.
Saturday's match against the Swans was his first AFL hitout for the season and he was scratchy in his only SANFL trial for the Port Magpies the previous week.
He was injured in his first contest against Sydney and while he played out the third term he was in obvious discomfort.
The Power expects former captain Dom Cassisi (calf) and forward Brett Ebert (hamstring) to resume from injury in SANFL trial matches this week.
Exciting small forward Robbie Gray, who last weekend played a half with West Adelaide in his return from 11 months out with a knee reconstruction, is expected to up the ante on his recovery by playing three quarters in the SANFL this week.
Cassisi and Gray are likely to play in reserves trials with the Port Magpies because their SANFL club, the Bloods, do not have a game.
Port key defender Jackson Trengove has been buoyed by his side's 3-2 pre-season win-loss record and believes it has improved considerably since last year.
But he knows the proof will be in the home-and-away season pudding.
"We've got to be able to perform come round one ," Trengove said, noting the Power hasn't played in the finals since its record 119-point loss to Geelong in the 2007 decider.
"That's our main focus now, we've flicked off from the job we had to do in the NAB Cup, we've prepared really well and now we've got to take our (good) form into the (real) season.
"I think we've matured as a group and we're confident with what we've been able to achieve in the pre-season but now we've got to show we can win more games of footy."
Port - which opens its year against the Demons at the MCG on March 31 - will have a tough week on the track before its players are given the weekend off to freshen their bodies in preparation for round one.
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