Starting his career at North Launceston before crossing to play in St Pats' losing NTFA division 2 grand final in 2015, Taylor arrived at Windsor Park in 2016 and made an instant impact.

The 24-year-old has played every game this season, the best of which was a 37-possession outing in round two's loss to Lauderdale, and has regularly led his side's tackle count.

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The Hawk taking over from Buddy Franklin

"Brendan Taylor has had a fantastic last month - he's averaged 26 disposals a game and 12 tackles," Thorp said.

"He's played over 50 games and he's now getting a bit of reward for the time that he's invested in this competition.

"So definitely Brendan has done a great job this season and Miller Hodge continues to grow off half-back for us and Casey Brown on the wing.

"Those three have had a last great month and a great year to date."

Launceston made just one change for Saturday's clash, recalling fit-again young gun Tyson Miller at the expense of Ben Killalea.

With their injury list having shortened as dramatically as their premiership odds in recent weeks, the Blues look set to take a largely settled 22 into the last few weeks of the home and away season.

"We've certainly got some younger guys fighting for those last couple of spots in the side," Thorp said.

"The key word is balance - we've got a better balance in our side now we've got some key defenders, some key forwards and the midfield is pretty settled.

"So the balance is right, we just need to keep the enthusiasm up and strong performances and see how far we can go."

With seven goals in a best-on-ground effort last weekend and 36 for the season, Thorp looms as a key match-up for the 1-13 Demons.

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North Hobart skipper and 150-gamer Hugh Williams backed in his blossoming defender Bailey Walker to nullify the Blues coach.

"[Walker is] one of the really good young key defenders in the competition so he'll relish the opportunity," Williams said.

"He's played on him four or five times now - last year he played on him, this year he played on him and he's got a good record.

"Obviously Thorp's kicked seven on the weekend and is in really good form so it'll be a challenge for him."

The Demons made four changes to the side that seriously challenged Glenorchy for three quarters last weekend, with Callum Kilpatrick (hamstring) headlining the outs and Jacques Barwick returning from Tassie Devils duties.

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