Brendan Lines    May 18th, 2020  

Life after lock-down began today as Port Adelaide players took part in their first non-contact ‘pre-season 2.0’ training sessions at Alberton.

Keeping their distance: Port Adelaide players training at Alberton – Image: PAFC

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley spoke just before the conclusion of the midday training group of eight lead by Captain Tom Jonas.

“It’s exciting to have footy back, we know we still got a little way to go, starting the road to getting back to out there and playing, for everyone, for the fans, the community, for us, for the players that are out there now running around it’s just great having it back, and have a bit of light as to where we are going,” he said.

The clubs training regime looks much different than ever before, as groups of eight players are staggered across six training sessions throughout the day beginning as early as 6.30am.

The group lead by Jonas included mid-fielders Tom Rockliff and Xavier Duursma, in what Hinkley describes is a ‘selected’ group.

“Without saying they’re random, they’re just selected based on a mixture of players, different types, positional, age, all the things you would consider, because some of the challenges would be you are trying to protect the whole squad, not just a small squad,” he said.

This will be the order of training for  players under the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols until full-contact training resumes on May 25th.

By then, Port Adelaide will relocate to the Gold Coast hub with Adelaide counterparts the Crows and W.A teams the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle.

Hinkley was ‘icy’ at the prospect of sharing accommodation with rival club Adelaide, after Port Adelaide president David Koch’s ‘We just don’t like you’ comment on breakfast radio in Adelaide.

“We are arch enemies a bit, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to put them together, we have these great matches and these great grudge matches and we’re going to be going into a place and be buddies? I not sure about that it doesn’t quite feel right in Adelaide,” Hinkley said.

Hinkley shutdown questions over wether any request was put to the AFL to remain seperate on his behalf.

“They’re not my issues, my issue is making sure them boys out there are ready to play football and that’s all I care about.

“Wether we live with the Crows or don’t live with the Crows, or Freo [Fremantle] or West Coast, or whoever it might be, we will do whatever we have to do to make sure we win the footy,” he said.

As Alberton re-opened itself to a new-world of ‘over and above’ pandemic testing protocols set out by the AFL, the squad moving to the Gold Coast has completed all it’s isolation and testing.

Except Western Australian players Mitch Georgiades and Jake Pasini who are currently completing their 14-day quarantine periods due to conclude tomorrow.