The Gold Coast SUNS will take 16-listed players into their round one NEAFL clash against 2015 premiers NT Thunder in Darwin on Saturday night.
On paper, the SUNS three-pronged tall forward attack looks extremely difficult for the Thunder to match up on. Led by two-metre Peter Wright, who booted 36 goals in 15 NEAFL games last year, Northern Territory will also have to contend with the 201cm Dan Currie and 203cm Cameron Loersch.
193cm Jarrad Grant will also start in the forward line and with the lively Jarrod Garlett crumbing at their feet, the SUNS attack will create some headaches for Thunder coach Xavier Clarke.
At the other end of the ground, the SUNS back six will have their hands full containing Thunder’s Darren Ewing, who has won the competition goalkicking award three times.
Ewing finished with 78 goals in 2015 and one of Henry Schade, Jack Leslie or Tom Keough will likely get first crack at containing the dangerous NT full forward.
No. 20 draft pick Brayden Fiorini returns from a concussion suffered two weeks ago and should see plenty of time in the engine room alongside former Northern Knights teammate Darcy Macpherson and the experienced duo of Danny Stanley and Matt Shaw.
Round 1 NEAFL Team
B: S. Tape, H. Schade, S. Donnelly
HB: M. Willis, J. Leslie, T. Keough
C: M. Shaw, B. Fiorini, J. Schoenfeld
HF: J .Garlett, C. Loersch, J. Grant
F: D. Currie, P. Wright, J. Daniels
FOLL: K. Brooksby, D. Macpherson, D. Stanley
INT: M. Spencer (A), C. Marsden (A), J. Collins (A), J. Karwan
The game can be watched live on NT Thunder’s YouTube Channel with first bounce at 6:30PM local time (7:00PM QLD time).
