Forget ‘Perth Curse’, bring on Cats

The umpire awards a free kick to battered and bruised Chad Wingard, left, after he was charged by West Coast defender Darren Glass, third from left. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper. Source: News Corp Australia

PORT Adelaide says it is not concerned about the Perth Curse affecting its preparation for Sunday's home blockbuster against Geelong.

Three of the four sides who have played in WA this year have been well beaten the following week, with the past two, St Kilda and Essendon, appearing to struggle to back up physically after the tough road trip.

Bombers coach Mark Thompson questioned his players' rehabilitation after they were upset by the Saints the week after being smashed by Fremantle at Patersons Stadium.

But Power midfielder Hamish Hartlett played down concerns over the trip to WA affecting the players, noting that last week's courageous win against West Coast was played in the cool of night rather than the heat of the day.

"A lot of the teams that have come back from Perth have played when it was pretty hot, about 30-31 degrees,'' Hartlett said.

"We played in pretty cool conditions for Perth, so I don't think that took anything more out of us compared to any other game.''

St Kilda, Essendon and the Western Bulldogs have all lost the week after playing in WA this year, with only the Gold Coast (against struggling Brisbane) recording a win.
Easing the burden for Port is that it has the luxury of an eight-day break between games while travelling Geelong has only a six-day break, having played — and beaten — premier Hawthorn at the MCG on Monday.

West Coast Eagles suffer a frustrating fourth quarter wich sees them go down to Port Adelaide 56-70

Hartlett says because of the long break between games, the Power players will not need to do more recovery work and sway from their usual preparation.

"We won't need to prepare any differently,'' he said.

"We had a bit of a run-around on Tuesday, we'll train pretty flat out on Thursday and then have a light run on Saturday, so we'll go about things pretty normally.''

Hartlett said Port has a "few sore boys'' after what he described as a bruising encounter against the Eagles.
"(Jay) Schulz (split lip) is probably the main one — his face is a little bit mangled at the moment, but he'll be right,'' he said.

"Chad (Wingard) and Jackson (Trengove) are just a bit sore through their torso but nothing of any major concern.''

Hartlett said small forward Angus Monfries is making a strong bid to return from a two-match absence with a hamstring injury but he is likely to have to wait another week.

Triumphant Power players leave Patersons Stadium after beating the Eagles. Picture: Paul Kane.

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Forget ‘Perth Curse’, bring on Cats