Brendan Lines    July 10, 2020 12:00pm

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has axed mid Tom Rockliff and defender Riley Bonner making way for Ryan Burton’s return to the squad as Port Adelaide make  final preparations back at Alberton this week, Hinkley also highlighted the upheaval Victorian clubs have gone through in recent days relocating interstate to keep season 2020 a going concern.

Port fans will have wait as Hinkley wrestles with Burton’s inclusion in the starting eighteen before heading to Metricon stadium for it’s clash with GWS.

“We’ve got to get through (training) tomorrow to make sure everything is ok with Ryan before I can actually confirm everything that’s going to go on there,” he said.

Burton, who is returning from knee surgery, spent his recovery time with the squad at their Gold Coast hub in the past weeks, on the chance that he might be ready for selection.

Port defender Ryan Burton – Image: AFL.com

His pending inclusion might be the addition Port’s defence is looking for to take on GWS forwards, who welcome the inclusion of Jeremy Cameron this week.

For GWS their potency around delivery inside 50 has left a lot to be desired, ranked 18th in the competition, Burton’s possible inclusion and ability to keep a lid on GWS supply, would certainly be a deciding factor around his inclusion.

Rockliff’s omission comes off the back of his recent form and Brisbane’s swift uppercut around the centre bounce contests last week.

“He’s a stoppage player for us and he needs to influence the game around the ball and certainly last week we were beaten up badly around the ball and Tom was only one part of that,” he said.

With the mass exodus of Victorian clubs displacing all round six games to neutral hub grounds, Hinkley can still see the up side and a little bit of humour playing another ‘home’ game interstate.

“We’ll get up there nice and early on Sunday morning up to Metricon for our ‘home’ game and go there with a three and zero record this year, so we go there with some great confidence,” he said.

But by the same token, having Port Adelaide’s time at the Gold Coast hub behind them, Hinkley extended his gratitude to the clubs who have been forced to relocate out of Victoria amid the state’s recent COVID-19 pandemic spike.

“It’s been great to be back in Adelaide, we’re all back around our families, we appreciate what other teams are doing currently because we’ve just been through that and we understand there’ll be some challenges this season, it’s one of the good things for us at the moment,” he said.

Port Adelaide will play GWS on Sunday at Metricon Stadium 12.35 ACST.