Pearce wants to avenge All-Star loss

PORT Adelaide midfielder Danyle Pearce will be one of more than 60 players to converge on Darwin next week ahead of the All-Stars clash with Adelaide on Saturday, February 7.

The AFL’s Indigenous contingent will meet in the top-end on Sunday and enjoy a four-day camp before the final 30-man squad to take on the Crows is selected.

Pearce, 22, said it would be a great honour to represent the All-Stars for a second time.

“I played for the All-Stars a few years back and it was a bit disappointing to lose to Essendon,” Pearce said.

“Hopefully, I’ll get another run, play against the Crows and, hopefully, have a win this time.

“We’ll also get a chance to go around and meet all the new faces as well as the guys who have been around for awhile. I’m looking forward to getting away, enjoying the change of scenery and then we can come back and get ready for the trial game.”

For the rest of the Port Adelaide players, the first hit-out of the 2009 season will take place at Alberton on Valentine’s Day.

The Power will play ‘six-quarters’ against SANFL teams Sturt and the Port Adelaide Magpies.

Veteran forward Warren Tredrea said the two games would be a good test for the beefed-up players.

“We’ll get a decent crowd at Alberton and I’ve been thinking for some time that, maybe, the internal trial has run its race. Every time we play an internal trial we end up nine-a-side in the last half because we’ve got to rest certain guys,” Tredrea said.

“This way, everyone will get a run and we’ll run it as if it’s a professional set-up. A lot of the young guys who have come into our club won’t know what our preparations are like before a game yet.

“And the best thing is that we get to test ourselves against an opposition who has no idea what we’ve been doing all summer.”

Port Adelaide will also use the February 14 Family Day to unveil its new captain(s).

Tredrea, who recently relinquished the captaincy and accompanying No.1 guernsey, said he was in favour of a sole captain rather than co-captaincy.

“I’m a bit of a traditionalist. I’d like to think that one person would get the job,” he said.

“There’s one person who is captain. The co-captain thing is like the leadership group. The leadership group is more important than the captain at the club. We’ve got eight members of the leadership group that do the majority of the work. The captain tosses the coin and is the figurehead, but the other guys do just as much work off the field.

“I’d like the club to stay with that traditional role and to continue the No.1 guernsey.”

The captain will be selected from the club’s eight-man leadership group, which includes Shaun Burgoyne, Dom Cassisi, Kane and Chad Cornes, Brendon Lade, Daniel Motlop, Dean Brogan and Steve Salopek.