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Wingard primed for midfield battle

Wingard primed for midfield battle

Port Adelaide are prepared to inject Chad Wingard into the midfield to allow their young star to influence tonight's semifinal against Fremantle.

And speedster Matt White has been declared a certain starter for the knockout clash at Patersons Stadium.

White, 27, took part in a sharp training session at the ground yesterday morning and has been backed to play despite sustaining a hairline fracture to his jaw in last Sunday's demolition of Richmond at Adelaide Oval.

The Power have three emergencies if there is a change of mind. Sandover medallist Kane Mitchell, Jarman Impey and Aaron Young have travelled to Perth.

Power assistant coach Shaun Hart said it was a positive for the team to have played at Patersons Stadium only a fortnight ago against Fremantle in a contest it lost by just eight points.

Hart, the 2001 Norm Smith medallist, predicted 21-year-old Wingard would be able to impose himself against the Dockers tonight after a return to form.

Wingard booted two goals from 22 disposals in the team's elimination final win - the most possessions he had gathered in a match for three months.

Last year's All-Australian has been in patchy form since gathering 30 disposals against the Western Bulldogs in round 14.

He kicked two terrific second- term goals against Fremantle in the final round but was seldom seen in the other three quarters playing largely as a forward.

Wingard has averaged 16 disposals this year compared to 21 in 2013.

"I think Chad himself knows how to get more involved in the game," Hart said.

"He got up around the footy a little bit last week and he certainly found a fair bit of it.

"He's outstanding I think. As much as he plays and wins a fair bit of one-on-one contests in the front half, I think you would have seen last week he's also outstanding in contests and in tight as well.

"We've just got to make sure we continue to inject him into the game."

Hart rejected the notion that the absence of Hayden Ballantyne (jaw), Luke McPharlin (calf) and Michael Johnson (back) made Fremantle vulnerable, saying the opposition's "culture" drove their performance more than personnel.

He also refused to say whether the Power would choose to switch their regular tag from Stephen Hill to Nat Fyfe, who missed the previous meeting between the clubs through suspension.

A Dockers line-up missing Fyfe kicked nine consecutive goals from the 10-minute mark of the third quarter a fortnight ago to put the win and a top-four berth beyond Port Adelaide's grasp.

Hart said a Fremantle goal blitz would not happen again.

"It was one of those ones out of the box," he said.

"We certainly believe that we had some ways to counter what was going on at the time. Freo kept kicking goals while we kicked points, I think you'll find, in that period.

"There wasn't necessarily a big momentum swing in terms of time in the front half … we'll make sure that's not any part of the game."