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Port Adelaide vs GWS Giants — AFL 2026 Round 21

Round 21

Match details

Home & Away
Round 21
Port Adelaide
vs
GWS Giants
Round Health Score (0–100), last 5 rounds. Scores drift down league-wide as the season's injury load builds — read the slope relative to the league, not the level.
Round health
Round Health Score (0–100), last 5 rounds. Scores drift down league-wide as the season's injury load builds — read the slope relative to the league, not the level.

Round health not yet available.

Season
Season

Head-to-head

11Ongoing injuries15
8Long-term (LTI)6
6 dDays' rest7 d
1Games in 21 days1
654 kmLast month air km0 km
Squad stabilityPTA 2ndGWS 15th of 18

Value-weighted players used — 1st = most churn of key players, 18th = most settled. Weighted by player value (our metric), not raw squad size.

Soft-tissue = the OSIICS muscle/tendon family — the injuries most prone to recurrence (PTA 2, GWS 2).

What do these scores mean?
Round Health
— point-in-time (0–100, 100 = no injury absences), weighting current ongoing absences on a fixed scale comparable across rounds. The league average drifts down as the season's injury load builds, so low late-season numbers are normal.
Season Health
— cumulative season-to-date: value-weighted injury burden, availability and incidence. Load-managed rests are excluded from both.
Sat 1 Aug · 6:35pm·Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
State
SA
Surface
Natural grass
Roof
Open roof
Capacity
53,583

Possible returns

Currently-injured players who could feature — fitness tests, squad signals and projected returns.

PTAno possible returns
GWS
  • Leek AleerDEF
    Projected return
    ManagedDue (5 days ago)
  • Jesse Hogan
    Projected return
    Wrist/HandFinger FractureDue this week
  • Lachie WhitfieldDEF
    Projected return
    Head/NeckConcussionDue this week

Returnees to watch

Recently back from injury and still in the elevated-reinjury window — risk concentrates in the first games back, especially for soft-tissue.

PTA
GWS
  • Jayden Laverdeback from hamstring · 1 game backSoft-tissue return — recurrence risk is highest in the first games back.
  • Xavier O'Halloranback from ankle/foot · 1 game back
  • Phoenix Gothardback from systemic/other · 1 game back
  • Toby McMullinback from hamstring · 1 game back
    Recurrence
    Soft-tissue return — recurrence risk is highest in the first games back.
  • Logan Smithback from knee · 2 games back

Current injuries

The confirmed outs for both squads (23 across both), ranked by impact. Players in doubt are listed under Possible returns above.

PTA carry the cleaner bill of health — GWS enter with 15 ongoing injuries to PTA's 11, 6 of them long-term.

PTA11 out
  • Groin/HipHip Labral Tear

    Long-term
    Due Mar 1, 2027
  • KneeKnee Injury (General)

    Long-term
    FragileDue Jun 20, 2027
  • KneeMCL Sprain

    Long-term
    Due Oct 1
  • KneeACL Tear

    Long-term
    Injury-proneDue Oct 1
  • Josh SinnDEF
    LTI

    ShoulderLabral Tear

    Long-term
    Injury-proneDue Oct 1
  • Sam Powell-PepperMID
    LTI
    Recurrence

    KneeKnee Injury (General)

    Long-term
    Due Oct 1
  • Ankle/FootHigh Ankle Sprain

    Severe
    Due Sep 5
  • HamstringHamstring Tendon Injury

    Severe
    Due Sep 30
  • Head/NeckConcussion

    Minor
    Due Jul 26
  • Chest/TorsoRib Contusion

    Minor
    Due Jul 26
  • Tom CochraneMID
    Recurrence

    HamstringHamstring Strain

    Minor
    Due Jul 25

Signals

  • 2recurrences
  • 1awaiting diagnosis
  • 3durability-fragile
  • Body regions:
    • Knee4
    • Hamstring2
  • What they lose: 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, 1 forward

Recurrence flags repeat injuries to the same body region within 24 months.

Injury classifications use the OSIICS system (Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System). © John Orchard — Free to use with acknowledgment.