Port Adelaide injury concerns and good form in the SANFL has ensured veteran midfielder Peter Burgoyne will finally make his return to AFL football against Carlton at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.
Hamish Hartlett (back) and Jacob Surjan (corked hip) have been named in the squad but are doubtful starters for the Round 20 clash, meaning some gaps have opened up in the team.
Burgoyne, who was named as an emergency last week, will finally get his chance after being dropped following a streaky performance against Melbourne in Round 15.
Coach Mark Williams said the 31-year-old deserved another opportunity.
"He's had 30 (possessions) the last couple of weeks and we didn't play well last week, we'd like to think Peter at his best is a fantastic player for us and we'd like to think he's still got it in him and it'll certainly be on him to show it," Williams said.
"In his 13-14 year career he's never really been dropped, so to handle that disappointment is one thing, get over it and then get back on to showing the things he's always done over his career, winning clearances, chasing hard, tackling hard and hitting targets, so it would involve all those things.
"I've always thought it would take 2-3 weeks and at the end of that time we actually beat Hawthorn and looked pretty good and wanted to give our players the confidence that we'll go with an unchanged line-up, but that backfired."
Williams admitted the pressure of performing at the top level, near the end of Burgoyne's career, might have had a negative impact on the premiership player.
"Self-doubt, it doesn't matter who you are or what occupation you are it does creep in and it probably did at that time."
"So I think the emotion of (thinking) I'm going to get dropped and people are talking about me' all that stuff, may have got to him," Williams said.
"To have an end point to say, 'Yeah I'm out, the worst thing that's happened is I'm back playing at the Magpies and having a kick around there, now I can get back to focusing on what's important'."
"He's getting on in years and certainly with his form being a little indifferent it makes it that way but we'll assess all of our list at the end of the year."
Defender Nathan Krakouer missed Port's training on Friday as he was attending a funeral in Perth.
Meanwhile Williams admitted Brendan Fevola was a real threat to Port's defence but felt there were other Blues players he was worried about.
"He's an important player to them, no doubt, but their onballers are brilliant," he said.
"Gibbs has come along, Kreuzer, I think Murphy is playing really well, Nick (Stevens) is back in the mix, Simpson, Scotland, they've got an array of them playing well and I think Hampson and Kreuzer are going exceptionally well and our rucks will really have to play well to beat them."
"Carlton have come off a fantastic win, they're a developing side, they look pretty good and it's going to be a difficult game for us."