Port Adelaide AFL coach Ken Hinkley says the "courageous decision" to drop Tom Rockliff to the reserves is paying off for the high-profile off-season recruit.
Rockliff's start at his new club was well below expectations as he struggled with injury and failed to find the ball and make an impact early on.
The 28-year-old averaged just 12 touches and kicked only three goals in his first four games for the Power, before suffering a calf injury, prompting Hinkley to bring back Rockliff via the seconds.
The move paid dividends after the star recruit racked up a couple of 30+ possession games before repeating it at AFL level in his team's last gasp victory in the showdown against the Adelaide Crows.
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Rockliff was one of Port's best picking up 31 touches, 12 of which were contested as well as making nine tackles.
Hinkley told SEN 1116 it was the right decision for Rockliff to return to the side after building some confidence in the SANFL.
"We made a really courageous decision to leave him back in the SANFL for a couple of weeks," Hinkley said.
"Tom is a proud person, he would much rather be in the AFL, but I think we ran him into a bit of touch.
"He had a couple of consecutive 30-possession games at that level and that transferred to the AFL level.
"We understand Tom is a high-quality midfielder, he just hadn't had the lead-up he needed to an AFL season the way he would like it."
Rockliff isn't the only star the Power recruited in the off-season as part of a list clean-out to accomodate the inclusions of Jack Watts and Steven Motlop.
Motlop showed his worth on Saturday, kicking the match-winner over the Crows.
"At the start of the year, they were the answer, everyone was saying it was fantastic, then three or four rounds in, it was starting to become a question," Hinkley said.
"Then again on the weekend, we saw the validation of why we brought some of those players in.
"That will get judged fair and square on our end result at the end of the year, not by this week or last week or three weeks ago."
The Power will travel to Shanghai for their round nine clash against the Gold Coast.