Injuries expose Tigers to risk of slipping out of finals contention

TORQUAY is set to be without key talent for its crunch clash against Drysdale today.

Tigers playing coach Dom Gleeson confirmed his side would be missing a quartet of stars as they bid to bounce back from last round’s 20point loss to Modewarre.

Paul McMahon (hamstring), James Saker (adductor), Billy Henderson (back) and Roscoe Holmes (unavailable) will leave Torquay undermanned at McCartney Oval.

“That’s two bookends and an avenue to goal,” Gleeson said.

“It weakens us everywhere, but what it does do is give us an opportunity to look at some kids.

“We’re looking to give Will Tamassy another crack at it. He’s one of our Colts and he played really well against Modewarre in trying conditions.

“We’ll look at getting Nathan Mifsud in. He’s a mid-range forward who gets an opportunity around goals and makes the most of it.

“We were hoping to unearth a couple of Geelong Falcons boys (Clay Page and Sheldon Ham), but they have been rested, and Tommy Diamond comes back in after having back problems.”

McMahon has succumbed to a back-related hamstring problem that has troubled him for three weeks.

Saker will miss the next fortnight with an adductor strain, while Henderson is out for another week with a back problem.

The injuries come at a bad time for the Tigers, who are clinging to fifth spot on the ladder by percentage.

“We certainly want to keep in touch with the pack,” Gleeson said.

“We feel like we started the season really well, we got ourselves to 8-2, and now all of a sudden we’re 8-4 and playing two top quality sides in the next couple of weeks.

“Looking at the draw, it’s only going to be more and more challenging as the year goes on.

“We’ve had Ammos and Modewarre and then we’ve got Drysdale and Anglesea, so it’s been a big month for us, even with a week off in between.

“All you can do is look forward to it, and as cliche as it sounds, we’ll just let the ladder look after itself.”