Border Mail |
ALBURY will roll the dice with injury-plagued forward Andy Carey in tomorrow’s crunch clash with Lavington.
Carey, who turns 30 later this month, was last night selected to play his first game for the Tigers since last season’s grand final.
The powerhouse forward, who booted 67 goals last year, has been constantly troubled by knee problems over recent seasons.
The Tigers made two changes for the clash with the red-hot Panthers.
David Price will play his first game for the club, coming into the team alongside Carey for injured utility Michael Thompson and youngster Jack Brooks.
Thompson, who strained a hamstring against Yarrawonga last weekend, trained last night but as expected wasn’t selected.
Jack Brooks was omitted.
Price, who arrived at Albury Sportsground over the summer, will make his senior debut this week.
He played at Southern Districts in Darwin prior to joining the Tigers and was lured to the sportsground by star midfielder Dean Polo.
Lavington, meanwhile, made just the single change for tomorrow’s match of the round.
Zach Hopper came back into the side after Brydan Hodgson, who made his debut last week, was recalled by the Murray Bushrangers.
Elsewhere, Wangaratta Rovers received both good and bad news ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Birallee Park.
Sam Carpenter will play his first game since round 4 against Wodonga Raiders tomorrow, however, fellow midfield star Jamie Sheahan was forced to take a week off with thigh soreness.
Sheahan was visibly troubled by the injury throughout last week’s narrow win against Myrtleford.
The Saints made wholesale changes for their clash with North Albury.
Corey Southern, Nick Dillon, Jayden Carroll, Christian Burgess and Jason Tanner all came into the side, with Lee Dale back to the VFL and Jake Sharp to the TAC Cup.
Dillon, who was stood down as coach of Beechworth late last year, has spent the past few weeks playing in Myrtleford’s reserves.
The Hoppers regained Jethro Calma-Holt and Andrew Thompson at the expense of Ash Sibraa and Liam Butler.
In other news, Marc Lonergan finally broke back into Yarrawonga’s senior team ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Wangaratta.
Nick Lawless, Tyler Bonat and Richard Handreck are also back for the Pigeons.
