Vice-captain Jackson Allen (pictured) will skipper the Australia Post Queensland Scorpions in their final game of the NAB Australian U18 Championships against Tasmania at Geelong today.
Thursday, 7 July, 2011
Vice-captain Jackson Allen (pictured) will skipper the Australia Post Queensland Scorpions in their final game of the NAB Australian U18 Championships against Tasmania at Geelong today.
This comes after skipper Dalton Tucker (hamstring), Tom Fields (shoulder) and Michael Wyld (shoulder) were ruled unfit.
The only good news on the injury front was the all-clear for Adam Oxley after he failed to finish last Saturday’s game against NSW/ACT with a bad knee.
Fields will undergo shoulder surgery in Melbourne next week and is possibly finished for the year, while Wyld, who learned of a small crack in his shoulder when it was scanned on Sunday, is set to miss three weeks.
Tucker is not expected to be sidelined for long.
Bob Batty, AFLQ Talent Manager, confirmed this morning Scorpions coach David Ashkar and the selection brainstrust had chosen a new path in trying to manufacture a win against the unbeaten Tasmanians.
“We’ll go small down back and load up with talls in the forward line,” Batty said as ruckman Josh Kolka and midfielder Aaron Laskey were added to the side to replace Tucker and Fields.
Allen was named to play at centre half back, while Fraser Thurlow and Sam Michael, who have been used recently in the ruck, will fill the two key forward spots.
Queensland, so good against Northern Territory in their first division two game and so disappointing in their second game against NSW/ACT, must beat Tasmania to have any chance of winning the division title.
The side is:
B: Chris Murphy, Luke Reynolds, Josh Wagner
HB: Brian Coleman-Broome, Jackson Allen (capt), Lachlan Russ
C: Peter Yagmoor, Aaron Laskey, Andrew Boston
HF: Alex Sexton, Fraser Thurlow, Jackson Starecevich
FF: Clay Cameron, Sam Michael, Adam Oxley
R: Josh Kolka, Tom Overington, Henry Joyce
INT: Jackson Rolfe, Brody Haberfield, Josh Smith, Tom Davidson.
