PORT Adelaide could call an end to Chad Cornes` season as early as next week.But as the medical staff at Alberton keeps close tabs on the Power game-breaker, Shaun Burgoyne is destined to continue playing with discomfort in his ankle.
Unlike 2006, when Port rushed a host of stars - including Daniel Motlop, Peter Burgoyne and Warren Tredrea - into surgery, the club is hesitant to repeat the dose this season.
"Chad`s certainly got a few injury issues," Power operations manager Peter Rohde said, regarding the finger, calf and knee ailments Cornes is battling.
"But Shaun hasn`t got the same issues. He`s had a bit of a crook ankle but nothing that needs surgery. He`s not doing any long-term damage so we`re happy for him to keep going."
Of most concern is Cornes` knee injury, which prevented the All-Australian from training this week. And if there`s little improvement in the next seven days, Cornes` 2008 campaign will end abruptly.
"Chad`s had a whole variety of minor ailments but combined together it`s made it hard for him," Rohde said.
"There`s no doubt we`ll be monitoring him over the next week or so to see how he comes up with a bit of rest and take it from there.
"He`s knee`s been the ongoing issue. His finger`s been operated on and will heal in time and the calf is just a muscle strain so they`ll fix themselves.
"But his knee has come and gone a little bit (over the past three years) and it`s probably been worse this time than what it`s been in the past.
"We`ve given him a couple of weeks off to see how he goes and if he doesn`t improve we might do something (surgery) with him."
Port coach Mark Williams, who moved Shaun Burgoyne into defence against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday, is reluctant to lose the flexibility Burgoyne provides.
"Michael Wilson, when he`s ready, that will free up someone in the backline so I`m not sure if Shaun stays there the whole time (this season) or not," Williams said. "We know he`s a great clearance player as well.
"As I said at the start of the year, we intended on playing him in the centre square all the time.
"But then he hurt his ankle so we played him forward and he was our leading goalkicker for the first five or six weeks, so he`s got all of that in his bag."
And Rohde insists the circumstances this season are different to that of two years ago.
"Daniel Motlop`s shoulder was giving him a lot of strife and Tredders` knee he hurt in the pre-season was never right so there were distinct reasons for what we did then," Rohde said.
"Only the players who have got injuries are going to benefit from it (rest or surgery), it`s not just a matter of sending them out for the sake of it."
