Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley admits there’s risk in defender Ryan Burton’s AFL recall, but says the reward is too great to ignore.
Burton will return for Saturday night’s crunch game against North Melbourne after a four-match absence because of a hamstring strain.
“He was in very, very good form before he went out and was very important to our team,” Hinkley told reporters on Friday.
“We’re getting close to the end of the season where we need to get some AFL football into him as quick as we possibly can.
“We weighed up all the options and all the challenges with that, but we just think Ryan adds too much to our team not to bring him back in.”
Burton also missed games in rounds nine and 10 because of a hamstring strain and Hinkley conceded there was a chance of a recurrence.
“Whether he plays SANFL or he plays AFL, there’s a risk with hamstring, there always is,” he said.
Burton and Zak Butters have been summoned into Port’s side to replace Xavier Duursma (bruised heel) and Cam Sutcliffe (omitted).
The Power travel to meet the Kangaroos holding eighth spot on the ladder by percentage from Adelaide and Western Bulldogs.
“We have had a couple of good games back-to-back … we have probably built up a good period of work now,” Hinkley said.
“We totally understand where we are as a footy club … we’re growing and we’re building and we’re getting somewhere.”
Hinkley said he had discounted North’s record-low score of 1.8 (14) in a loss to Geelong last week as having any relevance to Port.
“I saw them the week before live against Hawthorn so that is what I will remember more than I will remember the Geelong one,” he said.
“The major thing you’re seeing is that they’re really, really competitive in most parts of the game – the contested side of the game they’re really good, they look strong in their shape, they look strong behind the ball.
“They’re perhaps moving the ball with some consistency that is, for them much easier to play … for us, it’s a real challenge.”