Port Adelaide Head of High Performance Darren Burgess has confirmed to Adelaide's Mix 102.3 that the Power players making the trip to China will not be allowed to eat anything outside the hotel.
The Power believe food poisoning is a real danger for players, with Burgess suggesting food not made from the hotel could see players fall ill and miss their groundbreaking clash with Gold Coast on Sunday.
โThe food quality (at the hotel) is absolutely not an issue,โย Burgess said.
โ(But) we donโt let the guys eat outside of the hotel.
โWhen I was there with the Socceroos we stayed in Kunming (in the southern Yunnan province), and we lost two players on the morning of the game a pretty important international (match) with food poisoning, and in the two weeks after that lost about six kilos when I got home.
โIt can get pretty dangerous, but we think weโve got it all covered.โ
Burgess has been to China several times since Augustย last year and told the radio station he's been planning for this game for over nine months.
โItโs been a while (the planning process),โ he said.
โInterestingly, the players didnโt even know what flights they were on until (Monday).
โWe wanted to keep it away from them and let them focus on West Coast and then worry about this weekโs game this week.โ
As well as the food situation, recommendations have come back asking travellers not to drink the tap water in China, as Shanghai are just months into the most strict food safety regulations the country has ever seen.
