COLTS BUILDING TOWARD FINALS

The Western Magpies Colts will be building towards the finals when they take on the fifth placed Morningside on Saturday morning. Morningside inflicted the Pies second and last defeat 2 months ago and the Pies will be rearing to go to re-establish their dominance as the top dog.

Coach Jake Fuentes has had to make 8 changes to last week’s lineup but has some good ins with Sean Ryan, Zane Lovell and Chris Moloney returning from a stint in the Reserves and Sam Mehari, Ryan Cherry and Dan Edwards all back after missing last week. On the debit side ruckman Samson Rya  is off to Optus Oval in Melbourne with the Queensland under 17 team to take on Victorian Country tomorrow and he will be joined by Bruce Reville, who missed the Pies last match.  Also out are the injured speedster Ritti Batilimoyo, defenders Chris Jenkins and Cooper Crowell,  half forward Abdullah Haddad and Darcy Prest returns to the Under 16s.

On the balance  the ins slightly outweigh the outs so the Pies will be stronger this week. The strength of the Pies this year is that the workload is shared and the likes of Ethan Sivijs, Charlie Thorpe, Noah Resuggan, Jacob Aurich, Ryan Cherry and Lachlan Pearson often go unnoticed but they play their role to get the job done. Chris Moloney has a big job going into the ruck after being a key defender for most of the year and will get support from Harry Keenan and the return of Dan Edwards on a wing and Zane Lovell to ruck-rover  gives the Pies midfield a boost.

The Pies will be keen to atone for their earlier loss and will be keen to consolidate top positon on the ladder.

QAFL Round 17: Western Magpies Colts v Morningside at Hawthorne on Saturday August 11th at 9.30am

B:    Jacob Aurich  Harrison Radcliffe  Charlie Thorpe         

HB:  Aiden D’Rosa  Whitlam Bishop (vc)  Ethan Sivijs

C:  Dan Edwards Jacob Sheath  Deng Arok

HF:  Jayden Johnson  Cameron Ferguson Sam Mehari

F: Harry Keenan  Finn Collison Lachlan Pearson

Rucks:  Chris Moloney Zane Lovell  Sean Ryan  

I/C: Noah Resuggan (Capt),  Tom Slatter, Ryan Cherry, Mitchell O’Dea

 In: Harrison Radcliffe, Dan Edwards, Cameron Ferguson, Sam Mehari, Ryan Cherry, Zane Lovell, Sean Ryan, Chris Moloney

Out: Chris Jenkins (inj), Ritti Batilimoyo (unavailable), Samson Ryan (Qld Under 17s), Cooper Crowell (Unavail), Abdullah Haddad (work), Darcy Prest (Under 16s), Oscar Prior, Edward Short (both omitted)