McGuinness in doubt

Lauderdale planning contingencies with utility set to face tribunal tonight

LAUDERDALE’S shot at redemption in this weekend’s TSL grand final has taken a blow with Ben McGuinness set to sit in front of the tribunal tonight to fight a one-match suspension.

McGuinness was reported for a strike on Launceston player Ben Killalea in last weekend’s preliminary final.

The Match Review Panel deemed the strike to be intentional, with low impact and high contact, resulting in McGuinness being offered a base sanction of two matches, reduced to one with an early guilty plea, meaning the tall forward would miss the grand final.

McGuinness can take a towering mark up forward, but can also be switched to defence if needed. Lauderdale rejected the offer and McGuinness will now face the independent tribunal.

If McGuinness is to miss this Saturday’s grand final, it will hurt Lauderdale’s chances of beating North Launceston in what will be the third time in a row the two clubs have faced off in the big dance, with North Launceston coming out on top on both occasions.

Lauderdale coach Darren Winter is leaving the past in the past as his team prepares to win its first TSL premiership.

“We’re going to be focused on this week’s game, not concentrating on what happened 12 months or two years ago,” Winter said.

“The team playing this week is a new group, which has different players, who weren’t a part of the last couple of year.”

One aspect that will be different at this Saturday’s grand final is the game will be played at Blundstone Arena, instead of UTas Stadium, where the last two grand finals have been held.

“It (Blundstone Arena) is not a great advantage for us but it helps not having a three or four hour bus trip on game day or the night before,” Winter said.

“We hope that with local footy finishing and a north and south team in the grand final that the southern people will come out and get behind us.”

Lauderdale had to overcome Launceston last weekend to book a spot in the grand final, whereas North Launceston had the weekend off after cementing its position two weeks ago. But Winter doesn’t see the week off as a major advantage for his opposition.

“We’ll always try to find the positives in a situation and getting to have another hard game under the belt is good for us,” Winter said.

“We came away from our game uninjured, there are a few bruised bodies but everyone will be ready to go come Saturday.”