Paul Kennedy is excited to measure the growth of Glenorchy's young talent in Saturday's Launceston trip.
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Young defenders Nathan Blowfield and Cooper Meredith have enjoyed promising starts to the season - Kennedy describing the latter as "scratching the surface" of his talent - while Ryley Best has been called up following three good games in the development league.
Luke Nicholson, Callum Thompson and Braidy Simpson will also benefit from the chance to meet the premiers.
"Last year we headed up there with a really young team and one thing that's been pleasing so far this season is we've seen really growth in our young players," Kennedy said.
"Our development league team has won two games in a row - last year they didn't win a game - and we strongly believe when we have our best team on the park we're going to be a really formidable team."
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The Pies will be without gun back Harrison Gunther, who has been called up alongside Northern Bomber Tom Donnelly for his fourth VFL outing of 2021.
"He's gone really well which isn't a surprise to us - the really standout players in the TSL like Harrison, they are VFL quality footballers without a shadow of a doubt," Kennedy said.
"He's played on Majak Daw, he's played on [Jamarra] Ugle-Hagan, [Thursday night] he probably plays on [Sam] Weideman, so that's the level of faith North Melbourne have in his ability.
"He'll play the next few games with North Melbourne and we're hoping he'll get that opportunity to step up to the highest level soon."
Saturday's game starts at 2pm.
JUNIOR SPORT AWARDS
Do you know someone who is contributing to Northern Tasmanian sport, whether through participating or assisting?
The Examiner's Junior Sports Awards, sponsored by Woolworths, provide acknowledgement of accomplishments by players, coaches, volunteers, teams and clubs across the region.
Nominations are open from Wednesday, April 14, and will close at midnight on October 4.
Entries must include a photograph of the entrant.