Former North Melbourne and Collingwood forward Jaidyn Stephenson will not be resurrecting his AFL career, with Port Adelaide reportedly denying him a list spot.
The 27-year-old retired from football after 122 games across the two clubs at the end of 2024, saying he had lost his passion for football.
However, he surprisingly came out of retirement late last year and had been training with the Power in hopes of winning one of its two available list spots as a pre-season supplemental with Ivan Soldo’s ACL injury opening up a third spot on Thursday.
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The 2018 Rising Star had looked odds-on for a spot, having received a glowing endorsement from Mitch Georgiades last month.
“He’s super talented,” he said
“Some of the stuff he does out there, it looks like he hasn’t missed a beat, really. Very exciting. So we’ll just see how that turns out.”
He was still with the Power as recently as Friday night, booting 2.4 in their reserve game against Adelaide, but it’s now understood he will not be offered a selection.
It leaves East Fremantle small forward Mitch Zadow, former Geelong midfielder Ted Clohesy and Norwood defender Balyn O’Brien still in the mix for the remaining list spots.
Zadow was invited to train-on after booting 18 goals in 14 games for the Sharks last season and also impressed in Friday’s reserve match, kicking two goals againnt the Crows
It comes as the Power remain optmisitc after scans cleared former No.1 Jason Horne-Francis of serious injury after coming off in Friday’s trial match loss to Adelaide.
Horne-Francis experienced foot soreness in the same foot he had surgery on last year that restricted him to just 15 games in 2025.
He also missed the Power’s internal match simulation with a shoulder knock.
However, after being given the all clear Port Adelaide are optimistic he will be available for their round 1 clash and could still bring him to face West Coast in their AAMI Community Series clash next Sunday.
“I definitely feel I can turn it around and have a good season still,” he said.
“My goal for this year is to get out there, be healthy and hopefully play as many games I can.”
