A big weekend at McCarthy Homes Oval kicks off tonight when the Woodies take on traditional Friday night rivals the Jimboomba Redbacks in a 1st vs 3rd battle.

While the Woodsmen sit atop the ladder, its Jimboomba who are in red hot form after winning 9 in a row coming into this game including inflicting one of the two losses this year the Woodsmen have suffered.  That was a comfortable win by the Redbacks on their home patch a few months back, and its a very different looking side the face tonight in what should be a cracking encounter.

The Woodies welcome back a host of players, making selection very difficult for this week with competition leading goalkicker Matt Hockley headlining a quality list of inclusions.  Important midfielder Will Lloyd returns after a European holiday, Jamie Page returns to the backline, versatile defender/utility Josh Young returns after suffering from concussion last week while Tim Green and the livewire Sammy Banim return after being unavailable due to work and family commitments.

The Redbacks feature a solid core of high quality players through their midfield and in key positions, and the Woodies will be looking to neutralise their influence in what should be a very tough battle.

Youngsters in Tommy Roderick, Braydon Thomas and Alec Parsons have shown weekly improvement to be key cogs in an experienced outfit, all of them playing vital roles in the exciting win last Saturday at Maroochydoore.

Meanwhile, experienced heads like Matthews, Page, Thomson, Hockley and Mihalopoulous will make up a solid spine for the Woodsmen.  Batting deep in the midfield, the Woodies can call on plenty of players to have a run on the ball, and there is genuine scoring power in this weeks forward half.

As with any Woodsmen outfit, the defence is where they look most solid with the Young brothers ironically providing a youthful balance to an experienced back 6 featuring last weeks hero, David Jackson, the ever green Chris La Burniy and Woodies stalwart Matty Prior providing the perfect chopout.

Get down to McCarthy Homes oval for what should be a cracking game.

Woodsmen:

B: Stink - Burnsy - Trav

HB: Josh - Burnsy - Jacko

C: K - Juddo - Tommy

HF: ChrisD - Hocks - Shayno

F: BT - Mika - Irish

Foll: Thommo - Nessy - Sammy

Int: MattyP - Greeny - Lloydy - Alec