Defence has been a hallmark of Port Adelaide's competitiveness under first-year coach Josh Carr, but the Power's head honcho will be scrambling for reinforcements in that part of the ground following a suite of serious injuries suffered in Saturday night's loss at the hands of Collingwood.
Interceptor Esava Ratugolea, a man in career-best form, looks set for a year on the sidelines after emergency surgery on a ruptured patella tendon suffered in a marking contest in the third quarter. It comes just weeks after a starring role in Port Adelaide's victory over West Coast - a performance that earned him the maximum of 10 coaches' votes.
In the same contest, youngster Ewan Mackinlay suffered a knee sprain that ruled him out of the rest of the match, with the returning Jack Lukosius already observing proceedings from the pine.
Carr provided an update on all three men in his post-match press conference.
"It's a patella tendon, and it looks like it's ruptured," Carr said of Ratugolea after the match.
"He's gone in to emergency now and will most likely get an operation tonight (Saturday), so that's a long-term injury.
"It's probably most likely 12 months, I think. He's in pretty good form and marking the footy, so obviously disappointing and flattening for him and his family and us as a footy club."
Ratugolea had to be carted from the field of play, halting proceedings for a handful of minutes. Camera in the room later spied the 27-year-old using the green whistle, pointing to the distress and pain the former Cat was experiencing.
Carr expressed further disappointment with the latest setback suffered by Lukosius, who looked in fine touch in his first outing since Round 5.
"We're unsure with that one, whether it's a calf or maybe a Baker's cyst in there. We've just got to obviously have a look at it.
"He was playing really well in the first game back on the wing and using the footy well; he could get some deep entries. Look, he's worked his way back and got into the team. Hopefully it's not anything too serious."
Carr has limited time on his hands to tinker with his side, so that the absences of the three men may be adequately covered, before a home Showdown against in-form cross-town rivals the Crows, come Saturday.
Collingwood face Richmond on Saturday afternoon, and will be hoping the form of Nick Daicos (41 disposals, 10 score involvements, one goal) and Jordan De Goey (26 disposals, three goals) rolls on against their lowly traditional rivals.
