AFL 2023 Port Adelaide Intel: Scott Lycett, Brynn Teakle battle for ruck spot, Chad Cornes spray, Jake Pasini

Following an internal trial Friday night described by forward coach Chad Cornes as “spongy” that highlighted a lack of direct ball movement, The Power responded quickly on Monday.

There was a noticeable emphasis on direct and quick ball movement for the Power as they broke into teams for game simulations.

“We’ve been working on just getting the ball straight to our forwards,” said young main defender Jake Pasini.

Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley said the Power will play “fast, exciting football”.

This was summed up by a specific game passage on Monday.

Captain Tom Jonas executed a spot-on kick to allow drafted Kyle Marshall to steam out from behind the line and pull in an even better kick to find Mitch Georgiades, though Pasini looked like he was about to intercept the ball.

Georgiades then took aim immediately and, despite the acute angle, scored a fine goal from near the border.

In other observations from Monday’s Power session:

Mix it up

After Friday night’s power squad was broken down into probabilities and possibilities, Monday’s teams were much more mixed.

Connor Rozee and Willem Drew led the midfield for the white side and took on Jason Horne-Francis and Travis Boak for the black side.

Horne-Francis got off to a good start in internal testing but was then calm as he played far more time forward than Cornes expected.

But he was almost exclusively in midfield on Monday.

Jerk fights take a different turn

With Charlie Dixon on the sidelines he has been managed and will be fine for the Force’s upcoming trip to Perth, the ruck fight looming at Alberton had another slight turn.

There was a surprise in internal testing when Brynn Teakle got the nod as a starter for the probabilities ahead of Scott Lycett.

But on Monday, the two were on the same page.

Lycett, who has been the number one power in recent years, started on center bounces with Teakle playing as a key forward.

They later traded during the game simulation.

Teakle scored some nice goals to show his versatility and spent time after practice working on his ruck craft with Sam Hayes.

In Friday’s scratch match against West Coast, all eyes will be on who has the power in the ruck.

Butters jumps back

Zak Butters wore a pink out of touch hat due to a minor sprain to his right AC joint but was heavily involved in the match simulation.

The Young Gun would start half forward for the white team but try to move the ground up to get the ball.

Butters sat out internal review after intercepting a Lachie Jones strike in practice.

He showed his left shoulder couldn’t be faulted as he gave Jones a bump of his own while trying to run with the ball on Monday.

After playing as a midfielder for a long time during the internal trial, Jones was back in defence.

Darcy Byrne-Jones and Trent McKenzie stood on the sidelines following management’s internal process, while Josh Sinn walked alone after missing Friday’s action with a thigh strain.

Jeremy Finlayson walked a bit, although his movement was still limited, while recovering from syndesmosis surgery.

Pasini makes his move

Pasini’s performance for the possible side was positive from the internal review.

The tall defender, well regarded at Alberton, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in May.

It came as the 22-year-old was about to make his AFL debut.

The Power originally thought he would be back in action around the Gather Round in Round 5, but the Westphalian has made such good progress in his recovery that he is now hoping to put his name forward for Round 1.

“The only thing I worried about was myself and my skills, but I was pretty happy with my performance,” he said of his performance in the internal test.

“It’s good, it’s strong. I’ve done all the tests and have the ticks there so hopefully I’m ready for round 1.

“The high-performing staff are quite happy with my position and all tests have gone well, so I think I’m ahead.”

The internal testing performance was praised by Cornes and Pasini revealed that Hinkley was pleased too.

“The last few weeks of training I haven’t really been happy with how I’ve been training and I think that’s a given when I come back from a long injury, but I’m pretty sure I can go back there,” he said .

“I was quite shy about my abilities but Kenny pulled me aside and said he was very happy with my condition and almost back to where I was at the back before I injured my knee so that’s been good for here.”

Originally published as AFL 2023: All the pre-season news from Port Adelaide