Rain, rain, rain and more rain.
Sydney’s wet weather doesn’t look like it’s moving on before Saturday’s season opener against Port Adelaide.
Weather gurus believe there’s a 70 percent chance of a shower or two in the late afternoon to early evening, just in time for the 4.35pm first bounce.
Did that change Port Adelaide’s plans in regards to who took on the flight over from South Australia?
No, according to coach Ken Hinkley.
“We’ll be as selected, unless we get up there and something was to go wrong we’ll go with the side we picked,” he said at Adelaide Airport. “Joe Atley will travel as the emergency but we don’t expect he’ll play.”
Hinkley had a near full-strength side to choose from and no late changes mean Port Adelaide will unveil three debutants for the Round 1 clash at the SCG – Brett Eddy, Dan Houston and Sean Powell-Pepper.
Eddy, a mature-age forward, will look to take a bit of pressure off Charlie Dixon in the forward half while forward-turned-defender Houston will give Hinkley some much-needed run off half-back.
Powell-Pepper should complement Port’s midfield well with his physicality around the contest which, according to the coach, is crucial to matching and defeating Sydney in Sydney.
“Sydney has probably done that to most sides over the journey,” he said in response to the Swans’ dominance in contested ball.
“We go up there with some confidence that our bigger bodies will be able to match their bigger bodies.
“We bring (Paddy) Ryder back into the side which will help us get a better understanding of where the ball is going.
“We look forward to the challenge. We understand the quality of the side we’re going up against.”
Ryder returns for his first game in 12 months after serving his ban as part of the Essendon supplements saga while skipper Travis Boak plays his 200th game, so there’s extra incentive aside from the obvious for the Power to reverse a poor record at the SCG.
They’ve lost 11 of 14 encounters at Moore Park, including the last five. Last time these two teams met, Sydney jumped out to a commanding lead (40-0) at quarter-time before cruising to a comfortable 67-point win.
