Port sweat fitness of Wingard in AFL

Port Adelaide will sweat on the fitness of club champion Chad Wingard ahead of Saturday’s AFL round-four game against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval.

Wingard struggled to get through Sunday’s match against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium after hurting his ankle in the third term, adding to Port’s woes after in-form small forward Angus Monfries tore a hamstring early in the second half.

Port led by 10 points at three-quarter time but were over-run in the final term and suffered their first defeat of the season, going down 14.13 (97) to 13.12 (90).

Coach Ken Hinkley refused to blame Port’s injuries.

“We lost Gus Monfries and Chad Wingard was a little bit restricted,” Hinkley said.

“But that had nothing to do with it. We had plenty of rotations left on the numbers.

“It was just more their pressure and we didn’t quite handle it as well as we would have liked today.

“We still had rotations left. They just out-worked us in the last quarter.”

Monfries kicked two first-half goals before collapsing in pain after sprinting for a loose ball in the forward pocket.

“Gus is going to miss some time,” Hinkley said.

“When they pull up like that they are usually a four-week injury at least I’d imagine.

“He might even stretch out as far as the bye around round nine.

“Hopefully it’s only three or four weeks, which is a normal hamstring.

“Chad has rolled his ankle. It’s going to be a wait and see a little bit with Chad.”

Hinkley said it was a taxing game for both sides. But he’s confident Port can find the necessary talent to fill the gaps left by Monfries and possibly Wingard if he fails to prove his fitness.

“There’s quite a few of them who have been quite keen to get into the team so it will be interesting to see which one of them or which couple of them that we turn to, and I’m sure they’ll do really well,” Hinkley said.

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