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- LAKERS|STORM|BULLANTS
By Luke Holmesby 11:05 AM Thu 23 July, 2009
CARLTON assistant coach Mark Riley says out-of-favour midfielder Nick Stevens may be recalled to the side for Friday night’s pivotal clash with Collingwood.
Stevens spent the last two weeks playing for the Northern Bullants in the VFL since being dropped by the Blues after round 13.
But Friday night’s clash could be season defining for the Blues, who have won their past three matches. A win against the 4th-placed Magpies would see Carlton leapfrog into 4th spot, at least for the time being.
But a Pies win would give the black and whites’ top-four aspirations a massive boost and put the Blues back in the danger zone as far as making the top eight is concerned.
“We’ve got a few selection queries and issues to address. [Stevens] trained this morning and he is under consideration. We know Nick’s best is very good and we’re all working to get him back to his very best,” Riley said.
Stevens had just 12 touches in last week’s game for the Bullants but Riley said VFL form could be misleading
“Without being too detrimental to the VFL, sometimes it can become scrappy and packy and when you are a profile AFL player you come back and get sat on all day,” he said.”
“He worked reasonably hard last week. I wouldn’t say he had his greatest game. At times, the higher the level you play, the more skilled players that play around you, sometimes your performance is better.”
While Riley would not commit to selecting Stevens for the Magpies clash, he spoke glowingly of Richard Hadley who was among the best for the Bullants last week. Riley said Hadley would be considered with the conditions expected to be soggy.
“Richard was super. He has just carried himself enormously well around our club. Trained hard, played very hard, endeavoured to do the things we’ve asked of him,” Riley said.
“He marked the ball at both ends of the ground, he won the ball inside he spread well. He certainly is putting his name up there in consideration. In horsing parlance he’s not a bad wet-tracker is he?”
The Blues are taking on a top four team in front of what should be a huge crowd but Riley would not be drawn on whether the experience would be ideal preparation for a potential finals campaign.
“We felt a month and a half ago we may have taken our eye off the ball looking too far long-term. Since we’ve narrowed our focus we haven’t played great football with probably the exception being the second half last week,” he said.
“We’ve got the job done and we’ve grinded out a couple of wins. We’re very narrow focussed at the minute.”
------------------------------Exclusive to AFL BigPond Network
OH GOOD.
CARLTON assistant coach Mark Riley says out-of-favour midfielder Nick Stevens may be recalled to the side for Friday night’s pivotal clash with Collingwood.
Stevens spent the last two weeks playing for the Northern Bullants in the VFL since being dropped by the Blues after round 13.
But Friday night’s clash could be season defining for the Blues, who have won their past three matches. A win against the 4th-placed Magpies would see Carlton leapfrog into 4th spot, at least for the time being.
But a Pies win would give the black and whites’ top-four aspirations a massive boost and put the Blues back in the danger zone as far as making the top eight is concerned.
“We’ve got a few selection queries and issues to address. [Stevens] trained this morning and he is under consideration. We know Nick’s best is very good and we’re all working to get him back to his very best,” Riley said.
Stevens had just 12 touches in last week’s game for the Bullants but Riley said VFL form could be misleading
“Without being too detrimental to the VFL, sometimes it can become scrappy and packy and when you are a profile AFL player you come back and get sat on all day,” he said.”
“He worked reasonably hard last week. I wouldn’t say he had his greatest game. At times, the higher the level you play, the more skilled players that play around you, sometimes your performance is better.”
While Riley would not commit to selecting Stevens for the Magpies clash, he spoke glowingly of Richard Hadley who was among the best for the Bullants last week. Riley said Hadley would be considered with the conditions expected to be soggy.
“Richard was super. He has just carried himself enormously well around our club. Trained hard, played very hard, endeavoured to do the things we’ve asked of him,” Riley said.
“He marked the ball at both ends of the ground, he won the ball inside he spread well. He certainly is putting his name up there in consideration. In horsing parlance he’s not a bad wet-tracker is he?”
The Blues are taking on a top four team in front of what should be a huge crowd but Riley would not be drawn on whether the experience would be ideal preparation for a potential finals campaign.
“We felt a month and a half ago we may have taken our eye off the ball looking too far long-term. Since we’ve narrowed our focus we haven’t played great football with probably the exception being the second half last week,” he said.
“We’ve got the job done and we’ve grinded out a couple of wins. We’re very narrow focussed at the minute.”
------------------------------Exclusive to AFL BigPond Network
OH GOOD.
