Casey Scorpions v Gold Coast SUNS
Casey Fields, Cranbourne
Saturday, 7 August 2010
12.10pm
Click here to listen online- Casey radio 97.7fm
Five in for SUNS’ second crack at Scorpions
The SUNS will be hoping its recent good form and a consistent four-quarter effort will help overcome Melbourne-aligned Casey Scorpions at Casey Fields on Saturday afternoon.
When the sides met back in Round 4, the Scorpions managed to hold on for an eight-point win after a late SUNS rally.
This week’s squad includes six changes.
Zac Smith, Roland Ah Chee, Jack Stanlake, Alik Magin and Jack Stanley come into the side and defender Michael Gugliotta returns from injury.
Charlie Dixon will miss with a hamstring strain. School-aged trio Taylor Hine, Tom Nicholls and Piers Flanagan will be rested. Todd Grayson is out through suspension.
The full squad is:
B: Roland AH CHEE Karmichael HUNT Michael GUGLIOTTA
HB: Rex LIDDY Joel TIPPET Jake CRAWFORD
C: Joey DAYE Daniel HARRIS Trent McKENZIE
HF: Danny STANLEY Mathew FOWLER Jack STANLEY
F: Alik MAGIN Jack STANLAKE Brandon MATERA
R: Zac SMITH Marc LOCK (c) David SWALLOW
Int: Rory THOMPSON Maverick WELLER Sam ILES Hayden JOLLY
Matthew SHAW
SUNS Senior Coach Guy McKenna said he was looking forward to seeing how his side copes with the Scorpion’s physicality second time around.
“That’s the indicator for our boys now. I think they monstered us around the ball a bit last time and won the contested possession. Obviously when you do that you go a long way to winning the game. You’ve got to take into account that their side has changed by ten or so players and ours has changed by eight since Round 4. Even so we’re mindful of where we struggled a bit last time. It gives us something to aim to improve and a bit of a gauge as to how far we’ve come.”
Although generally pleased by the SUNS’ effort during last week’s narrow loss to Geelong, McKenna said his side couldn’t afford to let opposition teams off the hook early, especially away from home.
“Hopefully the boys learn from that. When you travel you can’t give a home side an even break or a head start. I wouldn’t say we outplayed [Geelong] over the last three quarters, but if you take the first quarter score away, we finished up ahead. It’s arguable then that we could have taken the win if we’d been up and about from the start.”
Karmichael Hunt has again been slated for a run in the midfield this week.
“After quarter time, once the game settles down, we’ll throw him in the middle and have a look. That’s the plan anyway. That said, we think he’s developed really well down back and that’s where he’ll start this weekend. There’ll be a couple of bona fide AFL players in the Scorpion’s forward line on Saturday, so of course we want to see how he goes on them.”
• For two weeks in a row, Karmichael Hunt – playing as a defender – has made it onto the SUNS ‘best’ list. Not bad for a bloke playing just his fifth and sixth VFL games.
• Casey Scorpions sit outright second on the VFL ladder, a win short of top spot.
• With Melbourne likely to offer late season opportunities to any number of exciting youngsters on its list, Casey will be the recipient of some top-end AFL talent in coming matches. This week the SUNS can expect to see big names like Brad Miller, Matthew Warnock, Matthew Bate, and Jack Trengrove on the Casey teamsheet.
