Whitford not saying whether Jay plays

WHILE he did confirm that one former premiership player was a “lock” to return for today’s TSL grand final, North Launceston coach Taylor Whitford stopped short of confirming if another member of last year’s team was the same.

Jay Foon, who suffered a fractured neck back in July, was named as an emergency on Thursday afternoon with many pundits taking this as an indication that the star defender would make his return at UTas Stadium today.

“We had a light captain’s run on Thursday and Jay got through training, but he is an emergency,” Whitford said when asked of Foon’s return.

With Whitford playing a straight bat, all eyes will turn to the warm-up for any hint of a return. But Foon’s potential inclusion won’t be the only concern for Lauderdale.

Two weeks after he was a late out of North Launceston’s semi-final win over Glenorchy, Tom Couch will line up for his first game since Round 12.

“Tom trained last Saturday and trained all week, so he is ready to go,” Whitford said.

Couch’s inclusion means talented young star Fletcher Bennett will make way for the 2017 premiership coach and while Whitford says he was disappointed to miss, Bennett understood the reasons behind the decision.

“As you’d expect, he reacted in a team-first way while being disappointed personally. He’s a great person and obviously you want to be playing in a senior grand final, but the silver lining is that he gets to play in a Mercury Cup grand final.

“Lauderdale had a few that missed out also but it’s never about one person, it’s about what’s best for the club.”