Controversial former Demons player Liam Jurrah attends his first training session with Port Adelaide, in the hope of being picked up in the pre-season and rookie draft.
Liam Jurrah at Port Adelaide pre-season training. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: adelaidenow
CLUB great Warren Tredrea says Port Adelaide should abandon plans to draft Liam Jurrah.
Tredrea says Jurrah's talent cannot be questioned, but the risk of drafting the troubled ex-Demon is greater than the reward.
"In the position Port's in now I wouldn't draft him," the Power premiership skipper said after Jurrah trained with the club for the first time yesterday.
"Sure, Jurrah's playing ability cannot be questioned, he has enormous talent, but he has a major court case hanging over his head and there is a chance he could go to jail.
"Port is trying to rebuild after a few years of inconsistency, it's got a new coach, new players and a young playing group. The last thing the club needs is some off-field instability, so to me the risk of drafting Jurrah is too great."
Tredrea, Port's games and goal record-holder, said the Power should let Jurrah, who is living with family in Adelaide, prove himself for a year in the SANFL before considering drafting him.
"Let the court case (in March) unfold, let him star in the SANFL for a season and then revisit drafting him next year," Tredrea said.
"Right now it's too big a risk to take him. With Port having a good off-season and investing so heavily in the development of its talented kids it doesn't need any unwanted distractions."
Port says it will not make a decision on whether to take Jurrah at the December 11 pre-season and rookie drafts until next Friday - after it has watched him on the track for 10 days.
The 24-year-old, who walked out on Melbourne in August, yesterday ticked two boxes. He attended his first pre-season training session and reported in reasonable physical shape.
There was no sign of the extra weight Jurrah was reportedly carrying following his decision to move to Adelaide.
But the freakish forward was aerobically poor. He struggled to keep up with his new training partners during a competitive football drill and lagged behind in several runs.
The last thing the club needs is some off-field instability, so to me the risk of drafting Jurrah is too great
Football manager Peter Rohde said he would not provide "a running commentary" of Jurrah's progress at Alberton, saying the 36-game, 81-goal forward wouldn't be judged until he had spent the best part of two weeks at the club.
He is being supported at Port by the club's Aboriginal employment and engagement manager Paul Vandenbergh.
New Power coach Ken Hinkley said he would give Jurrah "every opportunity" to prove himself worthy of being thrown an AFL lifeline.
This is despite the highly-skilled Jurrah, who comes from the indigenous desert community of Yuendumu, 300km northwest of Alice Springs, facing court in Alice Springs in March.
He is facing three charges of aggravated assault and one count of unlawfully causing serious harm over an altercation in March this year at a town camp on the edge of Alice Springs.
Hinkley said he had spoken to Jurrah twice in the past week and "he's really excited about getting an opportunity to show he can still play AFL football".
"We don't doubt that he can play the game, we've just got to make sure he's physically okay to play because he has had some significant injuries (wrist and ankle) in the past 12 months," he said.
"The fact that he's turned up here in a new environment to train - and I would imagine he knows there's some scrutiny coming his way - says his focus is pretty right."
Hinkley said the club would do its homework on Jurrah's off-field status.
"All of those things you've got to make good decisions about," he said.
"We as a club would be making sure we knew everything we need to know about any player because it's our responsibility to get the right people into the club."
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