Border Mail |
PENINSULA will target gun North Albury forward Adam Prior in today’s interleague showdown at Visy Park.
The league has earmarked the dual Doug Strang medallist as the player it needs to stop to bring down the Ovens and Murray.
Coach Stephen Ryan revealed Peninsula had closely tracked Prior’s form to date.
Prior kicked eight goals and brought down 16 marks in last Saturday’s 119-point hiding of Corowa-Rutherglen and it didn’t go unnoticed.
“He probably doesn’t get the headlines up there because of Fev and he might see this weekend as his time to shine,” Ryan said.
“He seems to be a very good player.
“He’s certainly one we’ve tried to keep a bit of an eye on.”
Ryan wouldn’t reveal which Peninsula defender would get first crack at the North Albury star but said his team had a number of options.
“We feel we’re pretty versatile down back and we’ll probably have a couple of guys go to him at some point,” he said.
“You can’t really focus on any one match up in interleague footy.
“You just need to be prepared to make changes when necessary.”
In a boost to the Ovens and Murray’s chances, Peninsula will be without Byron Barry today.
Barry, who was the MPNFL’s best player in last year’s loss to the Goulburn Valley, was forced to pull out this week due to injury.
He represented Victoria alongside Ovens and Murray stars Daniel Leslie, Tyson Hartwig and Matt Pendergast at last year’s national championships at Wagga.
“He’s got an inflamed disc in his back and it just wasn’t going to come up,” Ryan said.
“It’s disappointing, he is a very consistent player.”
Ryan said he expected the O and M to have an advantage in the big man department.
“Most of our big men, like Ash Eames, have gone down with injury,” Ryan said.
“We’re going to be fairly young and inexperienced at this level.”
