Thursday, April 12, 2007

Matthews keeps DT coaches guessing

Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews is closing on Essendon counterpart Kevin Sheedy's record of feeding ambigous or misleading line-up information to media. The latest out of Leigh's mouth is that ruckman Jamie Charman will make his season debut against Sydney this week. He could. But how many times have DT coaches been burnt after taking Matthews on his word. He also reckons Richard Hadley and Jason Roe are in the selection mix this week, while there's doubt over whether blog favourite Nigel Lappin will be return to the side.

Elsewhere, ankle surgery will keep Richmond ruckman Trent Knobel sidelined for the first half of the season. With Troy Simmonds still out, young Adam Pattison's stocks look set to rise.

Western Bulldogs fullback Brian Harris returns from suspension at an opportune time with the Dogs up against a potent St Kilda side on Saturday. Key forward Nick Riewoldt is set to rejoin a Saints side that boasts Fraser Gehrig, Justin Koschitzke and Stephen Milne.

In disheartening news for DT coaches who have been riding the coat-tails of West Coast tall Mark Seaby so far this season, the Eagles' first-choice ruckman, Dean Cox, says he's a sure thing to play in the all-WA clash against Fremantle on Saturday night.

Merv Gray

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