After a lean trot in 2022, finding success towards the back-end of the year, Port Adelaide are at a pivotal point in their future, attempting to recapture the form experienced two seasons back.
With faith shown in Power head coach Ken Hinkley, to resume his role at the helm after question marks circled on his future, the club as a whole are confident in the direction it's heading, even after a minor setback last year.
This exercise throws normality out the window with the idea of putting on a list recruitment hat in deciphering where, in this case Port Adelaide, weaknesses lie, with four names placed in the ring as potential suitors, before a verdict is settled on.
List Needs
When scanning an eye over the list needs associated with Port Adelaide, a glaring area desperate for attention surrounds the bolstering of the ruck stocks at Alberton Oval.
Backed up by statistics, the Power side recorded the lowest number of hit-outs last year across the competition by a significant margin, with Jeremy Finlayson forced to take the brunt of the work.
Whilst on the odd occasion the undersized matchups benefited Ken Hinkley's men, with Finlayson acting as an extra midfielder, more often than not the gamble to play short rarely paid off.
The last line of defence has been an area Port have searched far and wide for in ensuring the talent on hand is sufficient enough to meet any challenge front on, with a group that compliments each other.
The list management team can hold their head high in that regard, securing the services of Aliir Aliir to join the experienced skipper in Tom Jonas in recent years as one notary example.
Further afield in the offensive half, the emergence of Connor Rozee and Zak Butters has grown tenfold in the last season or two, however with more midfield time expected for the pair a gap in the market emerges.
Additionally, the retirement of Robbie Gray adds another element that was patched up during the trade period, withย Junior Rioli joining Port's forward ranks.
In spite of this, taking on another small forward would create a healthy selection headache for the list management team, which both the club and Hinkley would welcome as depth is an important asset.
Lastly, the wing position has been a strong talking point in SA following the departure of Karl Amon from the Power setup, leaving a gaping hole on one side of the ground that needs filling.
Often described as the link in the chain position, connecting the back half to the forward half, the ability to target a specific running wingman will be on the horizon for the Power recruitment staff.
4. Ed Langdon
After Karl Amon headed for the door, a gap in the market opened up to plug the hole on the wing, a position Amon fulfilled serviceably, polling the most votes by any Port Adelaide player in last year's Brownlow count.
When posed with the question of who is in the conversation for the best wingman currently, one name springs to mind almost immediately. Ed Langdon.
The Melbourne utility is a running machine with which Dees coach Simon Goodwin drew a game plan based on, his uncanny ability to roam free and use the depths of the MCG circumference to his advantage is an unmatched quality.
With Langdon boasting a superior aerobic capacity to Amon, Ken Hinkley will be encouraged by the work ethic of the new wing addition and will slot in nicely to become a crowd favourite in no time.
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