Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has leapt to the defence of Ollie Wines and Tom Jonas after the star players' slow starts to the AFL season.
Wines will battle through a calf issue but captain Jonas has been left out of Saturday night's crunch clash with the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval.
The 207-game veteran has been listed as "managed", with Ryan Burton back from suspension as defensive cover against a tall Bulldogs forward line.
"Tom wasn't dropped, he's been managed. He's had a bit of a grumbly knee," Hinkley told reporters on Friday.
"At this stage of his career, that's probably not an unusual thing that's going to happen.
"It's clear that he hasn't been absolutely in his best form but he's our captain and we respect that.
"He would never use (the knee issue) as an excuse but we need to sometimes protect him from himself because he's such a great person for our footy club."
Hinkley revealed Wines has been battling a right calf issue, putting to bed concerns around ongoing issues with the 2021 Brownlow Medal winner's troublesome left knee, which required surgery at the end of last season.
Wines will be important in the midfield battle against the Dogs, who have lost superstar Bailey Smith to a calf injury this week.
The 28-year-old is averaging 22.5 disposals a game this season; a notable drop from 28.4 last year and a career-best 32.4 during his Brownlow-winning campaign.
But Hinkley bristled at suggestions the experienced on-baller is "just going".
"If you're looking at pure numbers on the stats sheet, maybe it suggests that he's not getting 35 and 40 (disposals)," Hinkley said.
"But he's still playing a role that's pretty significant to us that allows other people around him to play at a level that's really important to us.
"So I think 'just going' is probably a little unfair."
Tickets have sold out for the contest, which serves as the main event in a double-header after the Essendon-Melbourne curtain-raiser.
Hinkley noted an energy had developed in and around Adelaide as part of the AFL's inaugural Gather Round but is keeping his mind on the task at hand.
"I get that Gather Round is a really exciting week and it's been fantastic for our state," Hinkley said.
"We all enjoy that and embrace that opportunity but every round is big.
"Every round has got the same consequence on it for us; four points that are really important.
"We're playing the Bulldogs, we're both fighting and desperate for a win, we've got great history against each other and it will be a tough, hard game that will go right to the wire."
