Harley Bennell and Charlie Dixon will make their return to the playing field this Saturday, as Gold Coast’s reserves coach Josh Fraser prepares to unleash his most experienced 22 since taking the helm of the club’s NEAFL program.
Also joining the dynamic duo is Karmichael Hunt (concussion) and Nathan Bock (rested), who make their immediate return to football against the UWS Giants after being managed by the club’s high performance staff last weekend.
Jesse Lonergan will back up his three-quarter performance after being iced in the final term to Sydney, while Jack Leslie and Seb Tape will be looking to complete their second full game.
For the first time in what seems like living memory, every starting position will be filled by a listed player.
Only Zac Smith (knee), Jack Martin (shoulder), Clay Cameron (shoulder) and Andrew Boston (ankle) will be unavailable for the curtain-raiser.
Senior coach Guy McKenna was thrilled to see the line-breaking midfielder back in full training this morning, saying the sooner Bennell gains match fitness and conditioning, the better.
“It’s fantastic, we know he is a quality player because you don’t finish runner-up in the Best & Fairest at any club if you can’t play football,” McKenna said.
“It is great that he is getting through because we haven’t seen him for a while; that’s the exciting thing for us.”
Meanwhile, Dixon returns to the fray after missing three weeks of football as he nursed a lingering adductor injury.
While the North Queensland’s tall forward partners in crime, Sam Day and Tom Lynch have been more than a handful for position sides in recent weeks, the fourth-year SUNS mentor knows how damaging his prolonged forward line can be when all three towers are on song.
“We’ve had Charlie out for a couple of games but he’s back out there training as well so that’s going to be exciting for us going forward,” he said.
“Key forward don’t grow on trees, and quality midfielders like Harley… to get him back (in the NEAFL) and to get him back soon will be very handy for us.”
