Warriors to rotate Ablett in the ruck
AFL premiership player Nathan Ablett will share the ruck duties with recruit Hasker Dawborn for Modewarre tomorrow in the absence of former AFL ruckman John Meesen.
In a bitter blow to the reigning premiers’ title defence, Meesen — who is still recovering from finger surgery — is unlikely to play again this season.
The former Adelaide and Melbourne tall has starred in the past two seasons for the Warriors and was best-onground in last year’s BFL grand final, but the Warriors must find another way without the league’s No. 1 ruck.
“He’s still in a splint after he had finger surgery a few weeks ago so it would be highly unlikely he plays again for the rest of the year,” co-coach Seamus Orr said.
“You still think about it as a possibility but I couldn’t give you an exact percentage. It might be a 5 per cent chance. I don’t think he’s put a line through it but at the same stage, how realistic is it to play? I don’t know.
“I think last week we missed Hasker Dawborn so he’ll come back into the team.
“We’ve got him and Nath Ablett, who can both play in the ruck and some more options outside that, that are a bit more radical, a little left of centre.”
Orr said the two would likely split the ruck duties throughout tomorrow’s elimination final against Anglesea.
“I always think you can have your plan and we like to be well-planned, but then you need to read the game,” he said. “Either one of them might start forward, one might get a good match-up and you say leave it and let’s see how it goes, or you might want to swap it straight away.
“They probably play 50-50 normally anyway, so we’ll have to wait and see on the day.”
Former playing-coach Josh Finch and Leigh Anderson both return after being rested, while Billy Hansen (hamstring) has to prove his fitness after missing the past fortnight.
Orr said his side’s forward line, featuring Thomas Worpel (44 goals, 17 games), Jesse Douglas (30 goals, 13 games), Josh McDonald (25 goals, nine game) and Mitch Fisher (22 goals, 15 games), would prove its biggest asset.
“If you look at the statistics around that, we’re ranked No. 1 in the league for scoring so I think we can move the ball as good as anyone and score as freely as anyone,” he said.
“But you have to be realistic, teams are going to come up with plans to counteract that, so we need our guys to be flexible and adapt to the game and play their role.”