Sam Docherty completed full training and has been named in Carlton’s 22 while Luke Nankervis was dropped by Adelaide and there was discussion on tagging James Sicily and Tom Stewart.
TEAM NEWS
Key ins: B.Ryan, Buller, Fiorini, Johnston, Maric
Key outs: De Goey (inj), L.Nankervis, Pedlar, Roberts, Tsitas, Fogarty (inj), McMullin, Baldwin, Bauer, Coulthard, Wardlaw (mng)
Key holds: Fletcher, D.Robertson, Fahey, Tsatas, S.Neale, M.Johnson, Chesser, E.Hewett
Extended bench: Emmett, K.Worner, Grundy, Chandler, Ryan, Hustwaite, J.Williams
Possible subs: E.Allan, Melican, Roberts, Tsitas, Baldwin, Bauer, Coulthard, Banks, Drury, Mullin
Confirmed subs: Pedlar, McMullin
Absent: Visentini, S.Mitchell
There was no major injury news, with Sam Docherty (AF $894k SC $561k D/M) named by Carlton. The Blues said: “After completing full training, Sam Docherty has been selected after being subbed out last weekend with a corked calf.”
Lachie Fogarty (AF $492k SC $282k M/F) was listed as out injured by Carlton and the Blues said: “Was unable to train throughout the week due to soreness.”
Last week’s debutant Toby McMullin was demoted out of GWS’s 22 but confirmed as sub, along with Adelaide’s Luke Pedlar. That means Luke Nankervis (AF $368k SC $192k M/F), who was dropped by the Crows but named as an emergency, won’t play.
Adelaide Executive General Manager Football Adam Kelly said: “The last four weeks have been terrific for Luke’s development and he has certainly shown he can perform at the AFL level.”
‘Dead rookies’ like Sydney forward Jack Buller may be a handy in for some coaches, while Blake Drury is among North’s emergencies.
DEBUTANT ALERT
Gold Coast also revealed 18-year-old Category B rookie Lloyd Johnston (AF $200k SC $102k DEF), who comes out of their Darwin Academy, will debut after strong VFL form, averaging 13 disposals and four marks across 16 games.
Suns interim coach Steven King said: “We’ve been so impressed with Lloyd this year, he’s come so far and has developed into a young professional within our football club. His ability to learn, grow and retain information has improved tremendously across the season and he’s been able to improve in all facets of his game. Lloydy has 100 percent earned this opportunity, he’s hungry to play and we can’t wait to see him run out this weekend for the first time with the AFL team.”
UPDATES
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has successfully utilised Cooper Sharman in a forward tag in recent weeks and was asked about a similar job on Tom Stewart.
Lyon said: “He is a great player, isn’t he? We’ll put some work into him. “Last week we didn’t really send anyone to Vlaustin. We did with Sicily, but he is right in that calibre of player. We’ll probably back our ball movement in first and then when he is in your area you’re going to have to take care of him, because if he dominates, it’s going to be a tough day for us.”
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin didn’t give much away about Brodie Grundy playing this weekend, potentially impacting Max Gawn’s output again. Melbourne don’t play until Sunday against Hawthorn.
Goodwin said: “We haven’t had that meeting yet. Clearly we went with Brodie on the weekend, really tough conditions on a slippery hot game of footy. It certainly wasn’t a night for key forwards to dominate. We’ll have a good look today at training. We don’t play til Sunday.”
The Dees coach was also asked about tagging James Sicily. He said: “He’s an important player. I think a lot of teams put some time into him. We’ll have a look at how we structure up. He’s a big part of the game. What we do with him, we’ve still got three days to go before the game, we’ve still got our strategy to go through, we’ll work through what that looks like later today.”
GWS coach Adam Kingsley provided another flag around Kieren Briggs (AF $789k SC $529k RUC), with Brayden Preuss potentially ready to play at AFL level in Round 24, having returned from long-term injury last week in the VFL.
Kingsley said: “He’ll play VFL again this week and then I’d expect him to be ready to go. Whether he gets in our team or not, whether we go chose to go with him and change the mix a bit as a coaching group at selection committee, we’ll have that discussion.”
On Briggs last week, he said: “He tried hard. That’s really his trademark. He keeps competing… the nature of being a ruckman in this competition, you pretty much face a gun ruckman or a duo that’s big and strong. It’s a tough role to play for a full season. He’s finding that out but he’s certainly still competing really well.”
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge offered a positive update on Tom Liberatore (AF $875k SC $626k MID) who’ll miss this weekend due to concussion. Beveridge said: “He’s on track. He’s feeling a lot better. We’ll wait and see but we’re hoping he might be available for the last round.”
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