Power won't rule out playing Ball

PORT Adelaide has not ruled out making a play for former St Kilda captain Luke Ball in Thursday night's NAB AFL Draft.

Last week, football operations manager Peter Rohde declared the Power wouldn't use any of their three first-round draft picks on Ball.

But on Tuesday he backtracked somewhat saying the club would take the best available player with each of its selections.

"We've got a stated aim that we'll go young, but depending on who's available when we have our picks we'll look at Luke Ball," Rohde said.

"He's 25 years of age, so he's not outside the realm because he's going to play for another five or six years you would expect. Probably, we'll be going for a younger focus but I won't be ruling anyone out right now."

However, Port Adelaide's cross-town rivals Adelaide didn't hesitate in putting a line through Ball's name.

The Crows have indicated they'll take a mature-age player with one of their selections, but recruiting manager Matt Rendell said it wouldn't be Ball.

"There are a couple of reasons why we wouldn't take Luke Ball. One is he doesn't want to come here and that's fair enough. It's his prerogative to choose where he'd like to go," Rendell said.

"The other factor is that he's going to be way too expensive for us as well. He could possibly be the highest paid player at the club if he came here.

"He'd be a handy player, but it's not where we're going."

Rendell said he expected Ball to make it through to his preferred destination, Collingwood, with pick no. 30.

Log on to afl.com.au on D-day, Thursday, November 26, for the most comprehensive coverage of the 2009 NAB AFL Draft. We’ll have live chats, live audio streams, in-depth player profiles, club reaction and our famous afl.com.au Draft Tracker.