Former East Fremantle forward Mitch Zadow signs on with Port Adelaide after impressive pre-season stint

Former East Fremantle forward Mitch Zadow has officially joined Port Adelaide after an impressive pre-season training stint. The Power announced the signing of the 21-year-old, who kicked multiple goals in five of his final seven WAFL games for the Sharks last season and had been training with the club since December, on Monday. He beat out former Collingwood and North Melbourne utility Jaidyn Stephenson to one of the club’s available list spots and has joined alongside 19-year-old defender Balyn O’Brien. Port Adelaide’s list manager Jason Cripps said Zadow had “worked really hard to earn this opportunity”. “He is a very clean ball handler below his knees and has hit the scoreboard on a consistent basis displaying a combination of power and work rate in the front half,” Cripps said. “He shows strong defensive intent and hunts the opposition when the ball spills or on turnover.” Zadow was not a consistent presence in East Fremantle’s league side until last year, when he kicked 18 goals across his 14 games. The back end of his season was interrupted by injury but he returned to feature in their elimination final defeat to Perth, kicking two goals in a 29-point defeat. Zadow’s first opportunity to represent Port will come in a pre-season game against West Coast in Perth on Sunday. Ahead of the supplemental selection period deadline on March 2, former Peel Thunder forward Wade Derksen — who was taken by GWS in 2022’s mid-season draft but was delisted over the off-season without having played a game for the Giants — has signed with Carlton.