Cox ready for Port Adelaide

STAR West Coast ruckman Dean Cox is ready to play his first competitive match since succumbing to groin and abdominal problems late last season and will make a carefully managed return against Port Adelaide in Saturday night’s NAB Cup quarter final.

Cox, who followed a strict rehabilitation program through the off-season, is set to play second fiddle to Nic Naitanui when the Power travel to Subiaco Oval, either starting the game as a substitute or playing four quarters with limited ground time in each.

Coach John Worsfold said the four-time All-Australian, who hasn’t played since round 15 last season, was “feeling really good” but would not play a full game.   

“Coxy’s ready to go, I would expect we’d get him up and going this week,” Worsfold said from Subiaco Oval on Wednesday. “It’s exciting for him. He’s really keen to get back into it.”

After a standout performance in West Coast’s second intra-club match on Saturday, Beau Waters is also in the mix to face Port after more than 18 months on the sidelines.

Complicating selection for Worsfold is the prospect of a 39-degree day in Perth on Saturday.

The coach said he didn’t want to select too many players who would only play a half of football and take away from the team’s rotations. 

“He [Waters] is going to just slowly build up his ground time, it’s a matter of [if] we want to use him in that limited time this week,” Worsfold said. “We’ll have to weigh that up with the heat.

“Beau is certainly in the mix. I think what he showed is with all his training pre-season he’s ready to step into this type of game, but it might not be this week.”

Worsfold said he would consider resting midfielders Matt Priddis and Andrew Embley for the clash, while the imminent birth of his first child could rule Quinten Lynch out.

After getting their first run of the pre-season in Saturday’s intra-club, Eric Mackenzie, Matt Spangher and Mitch Brown are all chances to face Port Adelaide and stake a claim on a key defensive post for round one.

Midfielder Tom Swift and rookies Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Ashton Hams and Andrew Strijk are also being considered.

With Priddis and Embley possible omissions, Worsfold said the club would get an idea of how young midfielders Chris Masten, Brad Ebert and Swift cope with extra onball responsibilities.

The coach added that he would encourage his young players to take some risks against Port and show the coaches what they can do. 

“If they make some extra mistakes because they go for some harder options then so be it, we’ll be encouraging them to do that,” he said.

“We don’t want to just play safe, we want to play some quick, risky football and see where we sit in that regard.

“If Brad Sheppard’s playing we want him to go for hard kicks, not just kick the ball backwards because it’s an easy option.

“If they get caught, then that teaches us something about those players, either they’ve got to develop more in that area or they have to change the way they think they can play. It’s about learning.”