Port Adelaide Player Nearly Changed His Number This Weekend

(Image: Getty)

Port Adelaide ruckman Paddy Ryder came close to changing his jumper number for this weekend's historic clash with Gold Coast in China.

Ryder wears the number four on his back, an unlucky number in China, as it sounds quite similar to the Chinese word for death.

Some buildings in Asia do not contain a 'fourth' floor - or a fourteenth or twenty-fourth and so on - such is the unluckiness of the number.

Ryder said he came close to swapping, before deciding to stick with it.

"It came up in conversation at home with my partner and we spoke a little about that," he told afl.com.au.

"But I stopped that idea in the tracks because I didn't really want to carry on too much about it. Number four is my number and I want to wear that as much as I can."

Gold Coast's number four is Jack Martin, who will also stick with it.

Ryder said he'll try and have some pride in the number.

"I'm not going to be able to change [the Chinese perception of my number] but I'll just have to get out there on game day and woo the crowd with my jumping, so they don't look at me too badly," he said.