Logan Brings A-game to Power trial - Port Power

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Logan brings A-game to Power trial

11:17 AM Sun 10 February, 2008
By Katrina Gill

HE started and finished the game in Port Adelaide’s ‘B team’, but rugged midfielder Tom Logan received a resounding ‘A’ for his superb performance in Saturday night’s internal trial at Alberton.

It was difficult to keep track of some of the players after they switched guernseys at half time, but there was no missing running machine Logan.
The 22-year-old racked up countless possessions during his four-quarter stay in the midfield and also nailed two classy goals.
“Tommy was outstanding,” assistant coach Jason Cripps said after the game.
“He just delivers every week like that and that’s what we expect from him.”
Logan has had to work for every game in his short AFL career, which has already included stints at two clubs. The super-fit onballer was rookie-listed by the Power in 2005 after being delisted by the Brisbane Lions.
From there Logan impressed coach Mark Williams with his trademark hardness and work ethic and earned a spot on Port Adelaide’s senior list.
Logan played nine games with the Power last year, including the finals series, after spending the majority of the season with SANFL club Glenelg.
“Tommy lives on the edge. He knows he’s not a superstar, but he knows what he has to do week in and week out,” Cripps said.
“He’s a great runner. He’s very hard at the footy and puts a lot of pressure on defensively.
“He was in the ‘B team’ if you want to call it that today and he knows that, as I said, living on the edge brings the best out of him.
“He’ll be pushing most weeks for selection. He’s certainly not going to be the first picked, but with a game like that I doesn’t do his chances any harm.”
Logan’s performance has certainly earned him a game in the Power’s opening NAB Cup game against Carlton on Saturday night.
With a handful of senior players likely to be eased through the pre-season competition, the door at Alberton is again wide open for youngsters keen to impress.
“We’ll sit down this week and decide who of our senior players are going to play against Carlton, in terms of their training load and how they pull up from tonight,” Cripps said.
“We expect a lot of our younger guys to get a chance. Matt Lobbe and Matty Westhoff might be a chance as well as Marlon Motlop, Nathan Krakouer and we’d also like to have a look at Ryan Williams, and maybe Gavin Grose and Ryan Williams off our rookie list.”
Marlon Motlop played alongside cousin Daniel for the first time in Power colours and showed enough to suggest he has a long and exciting career ahead of him.
“Marlon has been impressive this pre-season playing across half back and on the wing. Long-term we probably see him playing that Peter Burgoyne-style role,” Cripps said.
“We tried Nathan Krakouer down there today too and he showed something.
“Marlon was probably the one who stood out most to the public, but Lobbe and Matt Westhoff did some things in the forward line to help other guys kick goals, which we sort of look for more than just kicks, marks and handballs.
“In all tonight’s display was very good. Obviously we played a lot of young guys in different positions to see what they could do, but overall we were really pleased with the outcome."