Port Adelaide assistant coach Michael Voss has provided the latest news on a trio of key Power players.
Robbie Gray suffered a broken toe in a gym mishap when he dropped a weight last week and is now touch and go for the resumption of the 2020 season in mid-June.
Voss says Gray faces a race against time to get himself up for the clash with the Crows in Round 2, even if the five-time Showdown Medallist himself is confident of playing.
“He’ll get himself going either the back-end of next week, if not the week after,” Voss said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“It will be tight for him.
“I wouldn’t say that I’d be extremely confident but even speaking to him on Friday, he’s feeling a hell of a lot better.
“With those particular things it’s a bit symptoms based. If it’s feeling pretty good you get out and train, if it’s still sore then he has to manage it, but he’s feeling pretty confident within himself that he’ll be there.”
Veteran Hamish Hartlett sustained a quad injury in the Round 1 win over Gold Coast while key forward Charlie Dixon missed with a groin issue. The pair have been training fully with Dixon impressing greatly.
“With those particular guys you are always looking at their body of work,” Voss added.
“We can micro-manage them as best as we possibly can but their body of work has been really significant. They’ve had plenty of time to get themselves ready. Both those guys have completed full pre-seasons pretty much.
“Charlie was fairly unlucky to not be ready. He had a couple of games under his belt and missed Round 1. But he’s flying, the big fella. He’s ready to go.”
Voss says the Power are very excited to have Dixon in full flight when the season returns.
“His agility and movement around the ground is as good as I’ve seen. It was really disappointing for him because he was just so excited to be able to start the season and he just had that minor tweak in the groin which held him back for Round 1,” he said further.
“But we are all looking forward to seeing what the big fella can do. We know we are a better side with him in it. His natural energy he brings, his aggression, he brings all the qualities you want from your tall.
“We are looking forward at having him out there, that’s for sure.”
Fellow assistant coach Jarrad Schofield addressed the media this morning to give an update on midfielder Ollie Wines who underwent shoulder surgery in February.
“Ollie Wines got through his first contact session since hurting his shoulder today. We’ll have plenty of options when we get to the selection phase,” he said.
The Power will meet their local rivals Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, June 13.