Tom Couch will fly in from Flushing Meadows to aid North Launceston’s quest of booking a fifth-straight grand final ticket on Saturday.
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The reigning premiership coach is a welcome inclusion into successor Taylor Whitford’s refreshed side for the major semi-final bout with Glenorchy at UTAS Stadium.
Mariners Rhyan Mansell and Tom Donnelly, who were round 21 late withdrawals, join Tennis Australia employee Couch in the match-day squad, with Arion Richter-Salter (suspended) and Lachlan Young making way. Couch played the last of his five matches this season on June 16, but Whitford is nonplussed.
“He’s the type of person that thrives on challenges and this is another one for him personally. He takes a lot of pride in his performance, he’ll be fine,” Whitford said.
“The whole group is really chomping at the bit to go after the bye. Having that time off really frees you up and makes you keen for a game.
“We understand that we’ve been hunted for a long time now, so the group knows that teams are going to get up to play us and we’ve had that the past couple of years.
“They’ve got some quality to come back and their experience around the footy in Rainbird, (Brayden) Webb, Mott, Webster and (Cameron) Duffy is solid and the game will be won or lost around the contest.”
The Northern Bombers are leading this season’s ledger 2-1 between the two sides, however, the Pies delivered a resounding comeback to defeat Launceston in week one of the finals series.
They have lost Jaye Bowden to a season-ending ankle injury, but get back three genuine stars in Zac Webster, Josh Grant and Rhys Mott. The loser of the 3.30pm battle will face either Launceston or Lauderdale in the preliminary final.
LAUNCESTON coach Sam Lonergan has opted for finals experience and bigger bodies for its high-stakes first semi against Lauderdale.
Jake Hinds (suspension), Jack Donnellan and Casey Brown have been called upon to replace Jack Rushton and Mariners Jared Dakin and Ethan Jackson. The Southern Bombers have beaten the Blues once in three attempts in 2018, but prevailed in last year’s preliminary final where Darren Winter’s men appeared to target Launceston’s raw talent.
Lonergan said his side is more hardened this time and has moved on from last week’s disappointing loss.
“Finals footy’s tough so last year was a great learning curve for our players. Those guys are now playing their second lot of finals so they understand what it can be about,” he said.
“My job as a coach is to educate them to just focus on footy as football always wins.”
Lonergan said he wants his players to work Lauderdale overtime. “They’ve got a talented list with guys like Nat Franklin, Rhys Sutton is underrated, Robbie McManus and guys like that who are genuinely good TSL players,” Lonergan said.
“They have a competitive midfield group that are contested-like players, so if we can control that area it will go a long way to us winning this game.
“The great thing about or side is that we’ve got some elite runners. Chayce Jones is one of the best along with Jobi Harper, Miller Hodge, Dylan Riley. “We’re going to attempt to push Lauderdale from an aerobic capacity.”
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