Thomson coach Paul Lynch expects Zac Plant and Alby McNamara to be ready for Saturday’s GDFNL grand final meeting with the Belmont Lions after both sat out the preliminary final.
A dislocated shoulder suffered in the first semi-final win over Werribee Centrals sidelined Plant, while McNamara has been battling soreness.
“I think they’ll both play,” Lynch said.
“Planta’s been to see a sports doctor, and he thinks he’ll be fine.
“Alby’s just general soreness, so I think he’ll be right, too.
That will likely leave Lynch with the tough call of leaving two players.
However, it won’t be preliminary final inclusions Logan Mitchell and Leyton Thulborn getting a tap on the shoulder.
For Thulborn, it was his first game since Round 12 after returning from overseas.
“With the Leyton situation, we put it to a player vote whether he played or not to take it out of my hands,” Lynch said.
“Obviously, that came back that Leyts plays.
“It’s part of the game that I don’t like, having to tell people they miss out.
“But, unfortunately, it’s just part of finals footy, isn’t it?
“There’s a hard-luck story in every grand final contest that goes on; I’m sure they’re going to have the same problem at Belmont as we will at Thomson.
In a quirk of this year’s fixture, the two clubs did not meet again after meeting in Round 4.
In that lone meeting at Winter Reserve, the Lions got hold of the Tigers by 88 points, with 14 players scoring a goal.
“They really stitched us up out there,” Lynch said.
“A big ground’s obviously a different story; they’re very good at Belmont.
“I think the two coaches have done a fantastic job with them, to go from last year finishing ninth to where they are now.
“They’re organised, and you can see they put a lot of time into what they’re doing out there.”
Belmont Lions were the second-best defensive team in the competition, conceding just 71 points per game while averaging 104 themselves.
Only once did a team crack three figures against the stingy Lions – Corio back in Round 2.
“They do set the ground up very well – that’s one thing I’ve noticed in the two finals I’ve watched,” he said.
“You can see they’ve done a lot of work on that… and that’s probably playing at Belmont, too, on that smaller ground.
“It’s an easier ground to defend, but watching them against East and Werribee, they press very high and tight.
“But, we’ll put stuff in place to hopefully counteract that.”
X: @krockfootball
