The Tassie Mariners will play the Brisbane Lions Academy in Queensland on Saturday in their third match of the season.
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The Tassie under-18s have defeated the Northern Territory and suffered a narrow loss to the GWS.
Coach Lance Spaulding said after a week off his side had trained well and was prepared for the challenge.
“We’ve worked hard on shutting down the opposition receiver and trying to get some overlapping run into our game which have been our key focus areas,” he said.
The Mariners will be without Ben McGuiness with a hip flexor injury and Tarryn Thomas and Chayce Jones are away with the AFL Academy in New Zealand.
There are six changes to the team with North Launceston’s Tom Donnelly and Rhyan Mansell coming in along with Burnie trio Blair Rubock, Ethan Jackson and Jamieson House and fellow Docker Thomas Mundy returns from injury.
Spaulding said the Lions Academy side will go wide and run and carry the football out of defence meaning the Mariners would have to be physical and close them down early.
“They are big, they are handy at the contested footy, they use their hands well to move it quickly and they get their numbers back and run it forward,” he said.
“They have three blokes over 200cm so it’s important to get it going our way early so we cut supply to their big monsters.
“We are going to need to be good one on one and not get sucked into the contest, we are going to need to hold our ground.”
First bounce is at 9.30am at Tidbold Park in Redlands.