Midfield showdown as Pies target Thorp

GLENORCHY’S midfield has been called on to help Magpie defender Josh Grant thwart Launceston’s goalkicking machine Mitch Thorp in their TSL grudge match at Windsor Park today.

There will be additional spice in the match after Glenorchy lost its first game of the season last week and dropped to third on the ladder while Launceston replaced it on top.

Glenorchy coach Paul Kennedy believes his men can rebound from their unexpected misfire against Clarence.

“We are confident,” Ken- nedy said. “We have played some really good footy this year. It was probably one quarter of footy where we really dropped away [last week].

“The other three quarters we won — we had one quarter with a really strong breeze and didn’t make the most of it and that cost us the game.

“We haven’t had too big a dent to our confidence.”

Grant faces an unenviable task with Thorp, who destroyed the Tigers last week with a bag of eight goals to move his season tally to 24.

Kennedy says Grant is the right man for the job.

“Josh has been excellent this year,” he said. “He’s a 200cm key defender, he’s really mobile and strong, and we’ve got a lot of confidence in him. We’ve got confidence in our guys further up the ground and the way they can apply pressure in the middle, as well as our other defenders and the way they work as a team.

“If you can defeat their [Launceston’s] work around the contest, we can make life pretty hard for Thorpy — and ‘Granty’ can do the rest.”

While Glenorchy’s onball brigade welcomed back Rhys Mott from suspension, Kennedy says Launceston’s midfield is its main weapon.

“We get ‘Motty’ back this week and he’s one of the best clearance players in the competition and then we have guys like Webb, Rainbird, Kamaric, Bowden and Daly, so we’ve got a good midfield. If they play to their capability they can match Launceston and even top them in that area.”

Across town, North Launceston and Lauderdale clash in the grand final rematch. The Northern Bombers said premiership stars Brad Cox-Goodyer and Tom Couch will play.

“As far as trying to redeem ourselves, there might be a few boys who have a bit of fire in the belly to try and prove a point,” Lauderdale assistant coach Clinton Brown said.

“But you’re not going to get a medal or a flag at the end of the day. It’s just for four points and we are trying to get ladder position so they should be trying to do that every week.”