Having tipped the Brisbane Lions to finish with the wooden spoon, the team we at BPL believe will finish just above the Lions is the Power from Port.

New coach Matthew Primus has all but promised that this would be a year of redevelopment for Port as he pumps as many senior games as he can into his young side.

Primus replaced Mark Williams as coach with seven weeks remaining of last season and led the club to five wins from those seven matches. That was enough for him to win the job on full-time basis, continuing the Port Adelaide tradition of choosing its senior coach from within. First John Cahill, then Williams and finally Primus.

There is no doubt Primus had Port up and about late last season, but of the wins he coached, only Hawthorn was a finalist. His appointment was widely hailed inside and outside the club, but you wonder whether Port has missed out bringing to Alberton some cutting-edge intellectual property from other clubs for the first time in a while.

A look at Port would suggest it is a side that really lacks star quality. Travis Boak could become elite, Steven Salopek, Dom Cassisi and Kane Cornes are very good, but it falls away from there. Youngsters Jackson Trengove, Cameron Hitchcock and Mitch Banner also showed a bit, but that's the thing about them, they're young. You look through the rest of the list and see plenty of battlers and even the odd downhill skiier.

You look at Port and wonder where the goals will come from. Daniel Motlop returns and there will be weeks where he leaves us shaking our heads in awe. And others where will be look at him with pity. Justin Westhoff and Robbie Gray have their moments, but the Port forward line is not one that keeps opposition coaches up at night.

The backline looks OK. Troy Chaplin and Alipate Carlisle came second and third in the best and fairest respectively and are the defensive lynchpins, but Prim us will need to develop some more run and carry from the back half.

With 10 home games and two derbies at AAMI Stadium, the draw gives Port some sort of home ground advantage, and it is certainly more pronounced than that of most of the Victorian clubs. But the converse is that Port plays before some pitifully small crowds at home - sometimes less than 20,000 - meaning that AAMI is hardly the fortress it can be when the crosstown Crows are flying.

If Port carries the same sort of form into 2011 as it finished in last year, it will be a finals contender. But with an emphasis on playing the kids and with Primus still very much on his 'L' plates, a finish much closer to the bottom than the top is on the cards. What we should see enough of during the year is whether Primus is building something special at Port.

ASHLEY BROWNE'S projected ladder

16. Port Adelaide

17. Brisbane