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AAP
AAP
Steve Larkin

Injured Port captain Rozee sidelined for Carlton clash

Port Adelaide will be without Connor Rozee for their crunch clash against Carlton on Thursday. (Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOS)

Carlton coach Michael Voss says the absence of Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee is largely irrelevant to his plans for Thursday night's high-stakes clash.

The Power have taken a no-risk approach with Rozee and ruled him out of the Adelaide Oval encounter against the Blues.

The Port skipper sprained an ankle during last week's win over North Melbourne - his first game back after a two-match absence because of a hamstring injury.

But Voss isn't dwelling on any supposed bonus for his Blues created by Rozee's injury.

"There's two parts to every good side," Voss told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.

"There's the individuals that play within it and there's a system they play.

"And so another one steps in and he'll do a fine job, I am sure.

"But in key moments, we need to be able to make sure that we're the ones that step up, that we're the ones that shine.

"Whether Connor plays or not doesn't shift our focus too much on what we need to be able to get done, because there's another body there that will do a good job."

Port also lost goalsneak Willie Rioli (calf) and dropped Jordon Sweet in favour of fellow ruck Ivan Soldo, who hasn't played since round seven due to a knee injury, and recalled Francis Evans.

Port (eight wins, three losses) hold third spot but are just four premiership points ahead of eighth-placed Carlton (seven wins, four losses), who named an unchanged team.

Voss was an assisant under Power coach Ken Hinkley for seven years until appointed Carlton's head coach for the 2022 season.

And that stint in Adelaide leaves him in little doubt what to expect on Thursday as both Port and his Blues rate contested football as keys to winning.

"Not much changes in footy," Voss said.

"As much as we say about contests and pressure, it's essentially we have to bring effort - we're really describing what effort looks like and the intensity we need to be able to have on the ball.

"If the primary thing you're doing is around contest and pressure, you need it to be able to get your system up and going.

"And we need it so other things can flourish in our game so it's a really simple focus that we get after every single week.

"We've made some probably recent tweaks to that to hopefully improve that ... but obviously we're coming to Adelaide Oval and it provides a different environment against a pretty good team."

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