Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr has opened up about why the club is giving Jaidyn Stephenson a train-on spot and the opportunity to win a position on the Power list.
Stephenson retired in 2024 after playing 122 games and kicking 130 goals across his time with Collingwood and North Melbourne, saying he "wasn’t as passionate about football" as he once was.
Carr said that Stephenson, who was selected with pick six in the 2017 national draft, has matured and they would be "silly" to not look at the possibility of picking him up.
“From my point of view, we haven’t guaranteed Jaidyn any position on our list,” Carr said on SEN SA's The Run Home.
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“He’s obviously got to get through the draft, but post-draft, we have guaranteed that he can come and train with us over the summer.
“I think we would be silly not to look at it. He’s a talented young player; he kicked something like 40 goals in his first year at Collingwood.
“He’s had his struggles but we’ve got some people at the footy club that know him really well and he’s matured and from my point of view we make a judgement at the end of pre-season just as we will for any other player that trains on in the pre-season and we’ll pick the best player that’s going to help us as a football club.”
Stephenson was captain of Ferntree Gully this year in the EFNL, where he kicked 38 goals in the 18 games he had played.
Port Adelaide could sign Stephenson in the pre-season supplemental selection period (SSP) which the Power used last year to sign Josh Lai to the list.