Carlile injury hurts Port's raw squad

Port Adelaide full back Alipate Carlile at training earlier this week. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: The Advertiser

PORT Adelaide's summer of progress last night took its first hit of misfortune with key defender Alipate Carlile ruled out of the Power's premiership season-opener on Sunday.

And Carlile's absence with hamstring soreness exposes the Port defence to having just one experienced key backman - 61-game Jackson Trengove - against a fresh Melbourne unit that can load up with talls on the MCG.

Just three days after Carlile signed a four-year extension to his contract, the 25-year-old full back trained fully yesterday.

But at the end of the session at AAMI Stadium Carlile reported he still had the soreness that forced him out of the last quarter of the trial win against AFL premier Sydney a fortnight ago.

"I'm not prepared to take the risk," said new Power coach Ken Hinkley last night.

"It's not serious with Carlile, but I want a fit side. This game is too important to not have 22 fit players."

Carlile's absence leaves Trengove to form a critical partnership with Tom Jonas and Cam O'Shea to work against the Melbourne threats of Mitch Clark, James Sellar and lead ruckman Mark Jamar and potential switch-hitters Jack Watts and Colin Garland.

Hinkley is backing players who have passed his character test to start a new era for the respect-chasing Power.

Port will start its critical 2013 AFL premiership campaign against the Demons with as many as:

THREE first-game players - teenager Jake Neade, first-round draftee Ollie Wines and upgraded rookie, midfielder Kane Mitchell.

SEVEN players wearing the Power colours for the first time - defenders Campbell Heath (ex-Sydney), Lewis Stevenson (West Coast) and Jack Hombsch (Greater Western Sydney), forward Angus Monfries (Essendon) and Neade, Wines and Mitchell.

TWENTY players with less than 100 games of AFL experience.

SIXTEEN players with less than 50 games.

And Hinkley is backing the quality of his new-look Port squad ahead of the quantity of AFL games played by the old mis-firing crew.

Hinkley's first premiership line-up is without five players who featured in the Power's 2007 grand final 22 - Troy Chaplin (140 AFL games), Danyle Pearce (154), Steven Salopek (12), Jacob Surjan (121) and David Rodan (176).

This takes 712 AFL games off the Power's squad profile.

"And we have replaced them with outstanding characters - and quality people," says Hinkley. "Blokes who want to play the Port Adelaide way."

Port's last team on the MCG, where the Power closed the disastrous 2012 premiership season with a draw against Richmond, had 1958 games of AFL experience.

Hinkley's first 25-man squad, which will be reduced to the match 22 this evening, has a collective 1189 games.

This raw group will be led by a first-time captain, Travis Boak, who yesterday reiterated Hinkley's line the Power must re-establish respect, relevance and honour in the AFL.

"It doesn't matter what you do in pre-season, it doesn't count for any points," said Boak yesterday.

"We have to go in earning that respect back from the competition and we do that by the physicality and the tackling and hunting the ball and getting the wins.

"It all starts now."

MELBOURNE'S 25-man squad has its own new look with four new faces, including South Australians Jimmy Toumpas and Jack Viney.

They are among four Demons in line for their first AFL premiership game.

Port will be playing Melbourne on the MCG for the ninth time. But the Power has just one win from the previous eight games - in 2007 when Port last played in finals.

Makeshift Port and Melbourne teams last month played a highly competitive game in the NAB Cup series with the Demons winning by two points at Renmark.

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