Exciting first-year forward Robbie Gray has withdrawn from Port Adelaide's team to play the Western Bulldogs at Telstra Dome on Saturday.
Gray left training early on Friday with the hamstring soreness that had bothered him at Wednesday's session, and he did not accompany the Port group on the flight to Melbourne a few hours later.
Experienced forward Josh Mahoney, a member of the Power's 2004 premiership team, has replaced Gray.
Port has beaten the Bulldogs in nine of their past 10 duels. The exception was the Bulldogs' 76-point win at AAMI Stadium in round seven last season.
Asked whether he expected the Bulldogs to try to run Port's players 'off their feet' again, Power coach Mark Williams said: "That's their way ... they play a particular way and that's what they'll do again.
"Last week they lost to North (Melbourne) but they had 30 shots at goal. They are still going to have shots and it's still going to be (Brad) Johnson in the forward line by himself. It's going to be a little hold-your-breath-type atmosphere, but they will give us opportunities to score as well - that's how they play."
Port's inclusion of Alipate Carlile, 20, for Darryl Wakelin, 33 next month, is a reaction to the Bulldogs' pace, although Williams put a different spin on it by saying Carlile, who played one AFL match last season, had been in 'fantastic form' for South Adelaide in the SANFL and was a player the Power needed to provide 'good security going forward as a person of experience ready to play in the backline'.
"Darryl did a terrific job last week on (Jonathan) Brown - he still kicked four goals - but we thought it was a major thing for us," Williams said. "You know, Darryl will look forward to getting back into the side and, at the same time, Alipate will look forward to playing some games and getting experience. As I said, moving forward is a vital step and one which Darryl was very much aware of at the start of the year."
Williams said Port's recent inconsistency could be attributed to having so many young players in its team.
"We are aware of it and we get frustrated by it like a lot of the fans do, but we understand young players create that," he said. "We are one game off second so we are pretty well placed. If we make the finals, it will be a