AAMI Stadium, Sunday, February 17, 4.10pm
THE MISSING
Adelaide: Scott Thompson, captain Nathan van Berlo, Patrick Dangerfield, Rory Sloane, Ben Rutten, Brent Reilly, Taylor Walker, Jason Porplyzia, Sam Jacobs.
Port Adelaide: John Butcher, Domenic Cassisi, Robbie Gray, Cameron Hitchcock, Brent Renouf.
St Kilda: Nick Riewoldt, Sean Dempster, Sam Fisher, Adam Schneider, Lenny Hayes.
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LAST YEAR
Adelaide: The Crows are the defending NAB Cup champions, having knocked over Port, Carlton, the Brisbane Lions and Collingwood to make the Grand Final and then West Coast by 34 points in the decider at AAMI Stadium.
Port Adelaide: Port beat Carlton by a goal, then lost to the Crows in the round-robin clash. The Power then lost to West Coast by a goal at Mandurah and beat Fremantle by 20 points at Victor Harbour.
St Kilda: The Scott Watters era kicked off with a 1-1 split against the Sydney Swans and Geelong in the round-robin affair at Etihad Stadium and finished with a five-goal loss to West Coast in Perth. In the middle came the aborted clash with Essendon at Wangaratta to which the Bombers failed to show because of adverse weather.
WHAT THEY SAY
Adelaide: ''I think we'll see a Crows team this week that is still hungry to win even though it's mid-February. It doesn't matter who plays," coach Brenton Sanderson.
Port Adelaide: "As a new coach, this is a chance for me to see more of the players ... but in any game we play, we want to win. Once the siren goes, we are playing to win," coach Ken Hinkley.
St Kilda: "We want to be competitive every time we play. Whether it's a scratch match or a handball game, our players want to come and win. But is winning the NAB Cup a focus? Not at all," coach Scott Watters.
NAB Cup not a focus: Watters
WE SAY
Adelaide: The Crows are making all the right noises about taking the NAB Cup seriously, but with nine first-choice selections on the sidelines, would appear to be easing into the pre-season. Brad Crouch is the player of most interest on Sunday now that the training wheels are off.
Port Adelaide: A bit like the Crows of 12 months ago, Port has a new coach and a host of players keen to make the right impression. Ken Hinkley has made it clear that he hates to lose so you get the impression this means a fair bit to Port Adelaide.
St Kilda: The Saints have tinkered with their game plan over the summer and are relishing the opportunity to put it to the test against real opposition. They have some weapons missing, but the team for round one is far from settled so these two matches represent the start of the audition process.
