The guard has changed at Alberton. For many, it was long overdue.
Ken Hinkley has departed and the reins have been handed over to Josh Carr for the 2026 AFL season. Let the fun begin!
Port Adelaide lost their way over the last couple of years. When you look at the team, the talent available, and the results, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that something was up. The time was right to make the change, and now, the new coach has some big decisions to make in regard to the structure of his team.
I expect changes – some wholesale ones. I expect a different mindset. And I expect a Port Adelaide team a little more willing to embody the attitude of their new leader.
That does not bode well for opposition clubs.
More on Carr later.
Port had injury destroy their 2025. Sam Powell-Pepper and Jack Lukosius had their seasons ruined. Jason Horne-Francis and two thirds of the key defenders were forced to sit out for extended periods, and the fearsome midfield just never seemed to kick into gear.
It became a farewell tour for the coach, and in the end, the club was happy to put the year behind them.
Can Port regroup and push back toward September footy in 2026? Or will there be some growing pains with a new voice barking instructions and implementing a game style I expect to be vastly different?
There will not be a dull moment when it comes to Port Adelaide in 2026, but at this stage, I think they are a complete wildcard as we head into the season.
If you’re reading all our previews, you can skip ahead a little bit – It’s the standard intro.
We’re steaming toward a new season, and as we do, it is time to turn our attention away from the glory of last year and look at the possibilities of the new one.
The players have been on the track for a while now – the Christmas break is over, and as we work through January, the charge into the new season ramps right up.
This is where premierships are won and lost. This is where improvements are made and lists come together. This is where the kids show if they’re serious or not, and young projects become the next group of stars. New faces, new colours, old heads with renewed passion… so much feeds into the making of a contender. And as the days tick down toward the intra-club clashes, practice games, and eventually the real stuff, questions are raised about each team and how they’re going to perform in this new season.
And that’s where HB and The Mongrel come in.
We don’t do things by halves here, at The Mongrel Punt. When we do a season preview, we go all in to make sure it is the best, most comprehensive coverage you’ll receive. We pride ourselves on it. If you want to read one season preview for your team, or any team, this series will provide what you’re after.
The way it works is as follows.
Each club has a minimum of 15 questions asked about the upcoming season, their coaches, their players, and their expectations. The answers are not glossed over. We dive deep on each and every one of them – some singular answers would normally be long enough for an entire column. The first five questions/answers are free for you to consume. The next 10-14 for each club are for our members, including a special appearance from Mrs Mongrel to throw her two cents in the mix.
Isn’t it a bit early for a season preview? Well, I suppose, but do you know how long it takes to write seven-to-nine thousand words? That’s 18 x 8,000… gets out the calculator… that’s 144,000 words. The average novel is about 85,000 words, so buckle the hell up with these previews; HB goes deeper than anyone else covering the game..
Also, if there are any issues that arise after the publication of the preview for any team, they will be covered in standalone articles to act as additions to this preview.
You will not read a more comprehensive season preview than this – I guarantee it. This is where we start the run to the new season, and believe me – nobody does it better than The Mongrel.
Let’s jump into the season preview for the Port Adelaide Power.
1 – IS THE MOVE TO HALF-BACK THE KEY TO UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF TODD MARSHALL?
No, it’s not.
Keeping him concussion-free is the key to unlocking the potential of Todd Marshall.
That may come across as a bit of a cop out, but there has been too much time lost in the career of Marshall to this stage, and another head knock… it’s just not something anyone wants to see.
At 27, it seems funny that we’re still talking about the potential of Marshall, doesn’t it? In a sense, it is like he’s viewed as the Peter Pan of the league, as we have never really seen him grow into the key forward he looked like he was going to.
His 2018 season was a bit of a tease, as he slotted 11 goals in seven games, including three against Sydney in just his second outing of the year. It wasn’t until 2022, however, that we truly saw what he was capable of.
His 45 goals that season gave Port hope that he would continue to develop into the type of player the forward line could build around. But it just didn’t happen. Injuries and head knocks… and then missing the entirety of the 2025 season, the bright future everyone envisioned for Marshall was looking a lot darker.
And it is here we now find him, looking at a different role to kick start his AFL rebirth.
Can it work?
I have always rated Marshall’s ability to read the ball in flight. If permitted to play as the zone off defender, I have little doubt that he would be able to float across and cut off anything other than pinpoint delivery by the opposition. He has great hands, even if he does opt to take the footy without his arms completely outstretched – anyone know what that has always been the case? Shoulder issues?
The issue here is that the Power already have an excellent intercept player, in Aliir Aliir, who was ranked sixth in the league last year for intercepts.
Uh oh… there goes that option, right?
Maybe not. Aliir can also play as a lockdown defender, and still help out. I expect that Marshall would be playing on a “lesser” forward threat for the majority of his time, meaning that he would not have to be as attentive to his direct opponent on the incoming footy. As long as he doesn’t allow himself to be dragged to areas where neither he or his opponent can impact the contest, there is room for both guys to read the footy in flight and create great rebounding options for the Power.
But what if he doesn’t fit?
Over the years, we’ve seen plenty of forwards move into defence and make it work. Jeremy Howe, Darcy Moore, Liam Jones… it can work. But on the odd occasion it doesn’t a Plan-B needs to be implemented.
Is that Jack Lukosius?
Having already played off half-back, he remains a viable option for Port should Marshall not take to the role like a duck to a piece of bread that people keep telling me not to feed them. If they aren’t supposed to eat it, then why do they keep eating it!?!?
The first priority, for me anyway, is getting Marshall through the season unscathed. If he can play 15-20 games, this is a massive win for Port. If he stands up in defence and holds down the role, even better.
And if his success has a ripple effect on others who are/were stationed in defence, then that could be wonderful, too. I’ll get to that.
2 – IS THIS A MAKE-OR-BREAK YEAR FOR JACK LUKOSIUS?
Hey Jack!
A friend of mine writes those kids books. Personally, I prefer her Polly and Buster series, but Hey Jack is good, as well.
I sometimes feel a little sorry for Jack Lukosius. He’s never known what he is in the AFL. Drafted with a view to be a key forward at Gold Coast, he was quickly shifted away from the forward line when the club realised he wasn’t strong enough, or quick enough to make the most of any given matchup. After spending time off both half-back and the wing for extended periods, he found himself back up forward, and that about sums up his six years prior to joining Port Adelaide.
Sadly, things didn’t get much better for him after the move.
Lukosius managed just seven games in 2025, and with eight goals in those games, the Power’s hope that he would fill a void in the absence of Charlie Dixon (albeit in a different capacity) quickly went to hell in a handbasket.
Lukosius was forced to watch from the grandstand for the majority of the season, as his team struggled through the season. His value to the team remained unproven, and his best position, not just in the Port team, but in general, remained unclear.
It was clear that Ken Hinkley saw him as a forward, but will Josh Carr share that opinion? And if he does, can Lukosius finally make good on the promise that saw him taken with pick two back in 2018.
I’ll touch on some positives before we get to what worries me about him.
He is a great kick of the footy. He demonstrated this in his role at half-back for the Suns, as he was able to take on tough kicks and cover 60 metres as he relieved the pressure. He has a nice pair of hands, and when not under direct pressure, rarely double grabs. And he is versatile. Perhaps too versatile for his own good.
But for those positives, there is a glaring weakness in his game.
Put it this way – he would be a star in Gaelic footy. That doesn’t mean I am saying he’s soft, but Luko is a bruise-free operator, and he is at his best when he can get into space and use his skills. When the contest is hot… I haven’t really seen him able to handle it.
And this bit is just a personal gripe, but he makes that bloody grimace-y face like everything is just too hard. I hate that!
But that’s more on me than him. He is who he is – he can’t help that he screws up his face like a cat’s backside when things don’t go his way.
When Port recruited him, I looked at the potential forward line of Lukosius, Marshall, and Finlayson alongside Mitch Georgiades, and immediately came to the conclusion that MG was going to do a hell of a lot of heavy lifting.
He did, but not because he was carrying those blokes – none of them were there to help!
Now, with Marshall headed back, there is genuine pressure on Lukosius to perform. He has the ability to be a good second option, but… how do I say this nicely? He needs to harden up!
I want to see Georgiades getting the occasional chop out from Lukosius. Hell, I even want to see Luko stand up and steal the spotlight once in a while. Whilst the grimacing and looking like he believes the world is against him when someone tackles him isn’t his fault, there is no excuse for not delivering in 2026. That will absolutely be his fault.
He was drafted as a star. He is paid like a star.
It’s time to start performing like a star.
3 – CAN THE PORT MIDFIELD CARRY THE CLUB TO FINALS IN 2026?
They really didn’t get a clean run at it in 2025, with Jason Horne-Francis sitting out the last six games and a couple through the middle of the season, and Zak Butters having a late start to his campaign, as well.
Did you know Butters only kicked one goal in 2025?
That surprised me, but given the way Port operated, everything just seemed a little out of whack, didn’t it?
This team possesses the type of A-Grade talent that should see them ranked in the top three in the league in clearances.
They ranked tenth.
Things just never quite got going for them. Ollie Wines was a step slower, Connor Rozee was stationed at half-back for the whole year, and the injuries to the aforementioned pair meant the Port on-ball department was depleted.
It set them back further than anyone has really admitted.
This is a midfield that I remember tearing teams apart. Their speed at the contest and hardness over the footy were trademarks of Port prior to the 2024 season. Their fall has been steady since, and it needs to be arrested quickly.
We come into the 2026 season with a contractual cloud over the head of Zak Butters. This is a huge worry, even at this early stage. If Port are trending downwards, the likelihood of him departing becomes a larger story by the week.
So, where does the improvement come from?
Are the boys now permitted to play a more attacking style under Josh Carr?
Will he allow them to throw their weight around a little more?
Is he as content with a proven star like their captain playing a role at half-back?
Clubs live and die on an annual basis on how well their midfield performs. Willem Drew can play accountable footy as well as anyone in the league, but if he is the only bloke out there who looks like he gives a shit, this team will fall in a hole.
Give me a healthy Zak Butters running through stoppages like he has a rocket up his arse. Give me Jason Horne-Francis thrashing around and breaking tackles like a Marlin on a weak line. And give me Connor Rozee back in the guts, playing like a captain and leading like a captain – from the front, not behind.
That’s the Port Adelaide midfield that I would be fearful of. That is the Port midfield that would tear teams to bits.
I’ll go into it a bit further down, but Josh Carr does not strike me as the type of bloke that wants his players relying solely on finesse. He was a hard nut – he loves the tough stuff. Ollie Wines, Willem Drew, Jason Horne-Francis – they’re his type of players. Now, he has to allow them to be the type of mongrels (in the best possible sense of the word) that can change a game with physicality. Ditto for Butters.
Yes, this Port midfield can carry them back to finals, but only if they’re willing to become that fierce beast that I saw back in 2023. It was then that I looked at this mob and thought who can stop this?
It turns out they stopped themselves.
Now it is time to start things over again.
4 – IS THE ZERK-THATCHER/RATUGOLEA/ALIIR MIX THE RIGHT KEY DEFENSIVE SETUP?
I’ve often thought that this was a weird trio as the key defensive line up. Right from the point the Power recruited both Bzerk and Big Sav, I wondered how they were going to fare. It just seemed to me, that it was a mix that was rather non-complimentary.
Zerk-Thatcher was always going to be a good get, even after he was hung out to dry by his fellow Essendon defenders in his final year there. People said to me he was the “Reverse Coleman” winner, but I called bullshit on that – it was a team-wide failure that left him fending for himself far too often.
He slots in as the traditional full-back quite nicely, but it is the Aliir/Ratugolea pairing that concerns me. They play too similarly, but it is clear that one is far superior to the other.
Please don’t tell me I need to point out the obvious as to who is who.
Ken Hinkley seemed to kind of, sort of, perhaps, maybe, realise it at points and made some moves to address it, but aside from being a massive body, I am not really sure that Sav is a defender, at heart. He is too often caught ball-watching, and it results in the players around him scrambling to cover his inattentiveness.
So, what’s the answer?
Ahhh, you thought I glossed over this a little too quickly in the section above, didn’t ya?
Can Todd Marshall play the role that Sav fell down in? Is he strong enough to hold a key position role in defence?
It’s worth a bloody try!
Marshall has always been an intelligent player. I can remember watching him early in his AFL career – he won a road game against the Swans off his own boot in a scintillating last-quarter effort, but it seems as though Josh Carr is determined to send him into defence.
So, how does the trio of Bzerk, Aliir, and Marshall hold up as the three pillars?
Marshall is relatively untested in defence, and may take a while to find his feet. Playing a tighter role on a leading forward may be a harsh introduction to life as a defender, but it could be for the greater good.
And what does it mean for Sav?
I’m glad I asked – the Power’s forward line lacks a protector. You look at their lineup – Mitch Georgiades is the star, and the second option is Jack Lukosius.
There is no muscle there.
Ollie Lord?
A big boy, but has he shown that he can take physical contact and still contest the footy? I haven’t seen it, and his 0.5 contested grabs per game backs that train of thought up.
Sav is not a natural footballer. He doesn’t strike me as someone who is going to rival Darren Jarman in a skills competition. But he is a monster, and if you kick the footy out in front of him, and someone drops in the hole, he has everything you need to make the bloke think twice about doing it again. He can play the Charlie Dixon role, albeit not as well, to allow Mitch Georgiades to be a better player. Mitch kicked 58 goals in a team where he had to be the physical forward. With a chop out, he could easily go 60+ and contend for the Coleman.
Sav to the forward line?
In essence, it may sound a little far-fetched. But Sav as a key defender sounded far-fetched to me when I first saw it. And it still does, too.
5 – DOES JASE BURGOYNE NEED TO TAKE THE BIG STEP THIS YEAR?
It took Peter Burgoyne a few years to get going. We tend to remember champions of the game at their peak, and as we do, we forget that they had formative years in the league, as well.
Peter was a star for the Power, and is a legend of the club. Now, we see him further endear himself to the faithful, with his son running around in Port colours.
But there are some who are getting impatient with Jase, and believe that he needs to do a hell of a lot more in his wing role to justify his place in the team. Are you one of them?
Let’s have a look at how he’s tracking.
Jase is not a contested footy player. He is an outside player and only an outside player – we need to make peace with this.
The issue some have seems to be that stagnated in 2025, so the expectations they had of him fell short. So, the instant reaction is to look at the player and state that he is not living up to expectations – their expectations.
However, we don’t have to look too far for a comparison. We don’t even have to look outside the family.
In season five, Jase averaged 19.1 disposals and 2.5 inside 50s.
Jump in the time machine and head back to 2001, guess how many touches per game Peter was getting. Go on… have a guess.
17.4 disposals per game.
Peter would actually get worse in 2002, dipping to 16.4 touches per game, before exploding back to life in 2003, going +4.9 disposals per game, and never looking back.
So, with his good old dad as our comparison, Jase is actually looking pretty good, isn’t he?
As footy fans, we can often be sucked in by what is happening right now, and we often forget that development is not linear. Injuries, changes to game style, and positional moves, all have an impact. And we also forget that some players take longer to find their true role on a team.
Jase’s dad sure did, and I am guessing this lesson is not lost on anyone in the family, or at the club. The noise around Jase has come from those external to Port. And it is exactly the type of noise that should be completely ignored.
Now, if we’re being realistic and have removed the thought that he should immediately become the best wingman in the league, can we discuss where he might get to this season?
Okay, good. I see Burgoyne continuing to grow. If it is not in volume of disposals, that’s okay – his role includes maintaining space to ensure the opposition is stretched and has to cover a large amount of grass. What I do want to see is Jase starting to hurt more with his disposals.
For a wingman with his pace and balance, I expect him to be delivering the footy with precision, and whilst he has had moments, it remains a facet of his game that requires work.
His 2.5 inside 50 average, and his 3.0 score involvements are not enough, particularly as the second wing role is not settled at the club. It means that he has to be the preferred option.
I’d like to see each of those categories improved by 1.0 per game, at least. That is how you maximise damage.
I am sure that one could argue that it is Jase’s ability to play both ends that limits his offensive impact (2.6 Rebound 50s per game) and there is merit to this, but finding the right balance and being in the right spots at the right time is an art form that takes a while to master. This could be the season Jase finds that balance.
Whilst not as sexy as Ollie Dempsey’s offensive numbers, Jase could do well studying how Jarrod Berry went about his work on the wing in 2025. 31.1 inside 50s and 3.0 rebound 50s were enough to see him win the Robbie Flower Wingman of the Year Award.
Even with the stagnation, Burgoyne is not all that far away, is he?
Patience, Port fans… I am sure nobody will complain if he does indeed become Peter Burgoyne 2.0.
The remainder of this article, and the next 15 questions are for our members. They support me, and I provide for them. It’s a good deal.
Oh… a Mongrel paywall… the worst of all paywalls. We’re on the march to the 2026 AFL season and it all begins here. The Mongrel’s Big Questions Season Previews are THE best in the business. If you know, you know… if not, maybe it’s time to find out. Pre-Season, Practice Games… we’re all in. Dump the mainstream lip service and dive into articles like this – you will never look back. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. You’re welcome to re-read the first five questions again, but if you do… there is a heap more below.
