Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has scoffed at suggestions the Power face a game-plan dilemma without key defenders Jackson Trengove and Alipate Carlile ahead of Saturday's clash with Essendon at Adelaide Oval.
Trengove was ruled out for up to six weeks following ankle surgery on Wednesday, while Carlile could miss the next three matches after suffering a hamstring injury in Port's 23-point Showdown defeat on Sunday to the Crows.
Justin Westhoff is set to fill in for Trengove in defence while also assuming the 23-year-old's responsibilities in the ruck.
Westhoff, who has previously been used by Hinkley as a back-up ruckman, has spent more time forward this season following Trengove's success as a ruck pinch-hitter.
"The biggest disruption is 'Jacko' (Trengove) in the ruck. Obviously we can't replace him, so we have to go down the other end and look to Westhoff more often than not," Hinkley said.
"We're talking small moments in the game. We're not talking for big parts of the game.
"We've taken Westhoff away from (the forward line) and put him behind the ball deliberately at times this season too, so we think our forward line functions pretty well when it's small or a bit taller."
While Hinkley believes Westhoff can cover Trengove, the 47-year-old has backed defender Cam O'Shea to get the job done in Carlile's absence.
O'Shea was expected to be joined in the defensive 50 by fellow tall Tom Clurey, but the latter was overlooked and named as an emergency to accommodate the inclusion of former skipper Dom Cassisi and utility Aaron Young.
While Clurey was on the cusp of a return to the senior side, Hinkley said the Power only wanted to select one tall defender for Saturday's contest and, as a result, went with the more-experienced O'Shea.
"Typically, we've had one extra down there (in defence) most of the time so one of our talls had to play small. We didn't feel like it was a big knock on us not to have two defenders as talls," he said.
"It was either going to be Tom or Cam O'Shea - they are both exactly the same height, but Cam's got a little bit more history of playing AFL football."
Essendon have also had to re-jig their line-up defensively following veteran Dustin Fletcher's surprise omission and Michael Hibberd's ankle concern.
The duo are replaced by forward Jason Winderlich and defender Mark Baguley.
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