North Launceston will travel south for the second straight week with an inconsistent Glenorchy outfit the challenge.

Taylor Whitford’s men toppled the Magpies by 10 goals at KGV in round 10, while Saturday’s hosts prevailed at UTAS Stadium in April. 

“The first time we played them they had a number of players out and then they played us and we had a number of players out,” Glenorchy boss Paul Kennedy said heading into round 17.

“Hopefully this week both teams are a bit closer to full-strength and we find out a bit more. When we’ve defended the way we want to against North Launceston we’ve done a fairly good job of restricting them.

“They’re so good at what they do and so disciplined in how they do it that when you do drop away the goals pile up pretty quickly.”

Whitford expects the third-placed Pies to be up and about after falling to Lauderdale for the second time last week.

“If you let their onballers (Mitch) Rainbird, James Webb and (Ben) Kamaric win the clearances and get the ball forward, they look dangerous with (Jaye) Bowden, (Zac) Webster and (Mitch) Walker forward.

“We can combat that with (Brad) Cox-Goodyer and (Josh) Ponting being in career best form.”

Whitford said his skipper is starting to reach the heights of last season where he won almost every award.

“We forget he did his groin in the grand final which limited his pre-season and then his hammy in the last week of pre-season,” he said. 

“Post-bye he’s done quite well and he has been playing a lot of midfield time more than forward to get some kilometres into his legs.

“We’ll see the Brad of old in the back half of the season where he will get forward and kick goals.”

LAUNCESTON coach Sam Lonergan knows his players are going to have to be at their best against Lauderdale at Windsor Park.

“They are the in-form team in the competition, bar North Launceston,” he said.

“We have to control the contests. Windsor Park is a much bigger ground than Lauderdale and we have played them twice down there on a small oval.

“We’ve got to control the contest and use the ground to our advantage and move the ball by foot to make them defend for longer.”

The win-loss ledger this season stands at 1-1 with Lonergan calling in Joe Boyce and young tall Tim Auckland as ammunition.

However, he remains on the sidelines.

“My body is OK, I’m just not getting the training I need. I’m spending more time with my players and individuals, which has probably been detrimental to getting me ready,” he said.

“I’m 90 per cent right… but my players come first.

“I’ve spoken to my coaches this week and they’re going to take some extra load over the next week to help me get back on the training track.”