Flying Blues wary of threat from Clarence

LAUNCESTON has been nothing short of ruthless in recent weeks but coach Mitch Thorp continues to play down the dominance of his all conquering side ahead of the round six top of the table TSL clash.

The Blues boast an average winning margin of 114 points in their past three games and head to Blundstone Arena on Saturday to tackle second placed Clarence boosted by the return of Jake Hinds, who was arguably the form player of the competition before copping a two-week suspension.

Yet despite the red hot start from the reigning premiers, Thorp is on high alert of a Roos outfit he believes is returning to “old school Clarence” which dominated the early years of the TSL.

“The challenge this week I think will be our greatest so far this year,” Thorp said.

“‘Jez’ [Clarence coach Jeromey Webberley] has got a pretty jovial exterior but underneath that is a pretty motivated bloke that a few years ago was copping a whack about where Clarence’s list was at.

“You look at their 18s and their development league in particular and they are absolutely hammering teams.

“Their development league have a full forward [Jake] Steele, centre half forward

Noah Holmes, they Wade Wall in the ruck.

“They are really building a Clarence side that is almost like that old school Clarence, dominant club again.

“Our boys are acutely aware Clarence is building something quite special.”

While flattered with his opposing number pumping up his side, Webberley was not getting distracted.

And despite the Blues’ blistering start, Webberley believes have there are chinks in the armour the Roos can exploit.

“There is no doubt this week is a major challenge, clearly the best team in the competition, percentage of 300 or something ridiculous but I think it is exciting for our group,” he said. “We have to make sure we play our way … if we can do that then hopefully we can exploit some of those weaknesses I think they may have, obviously I don’t want to discuss them here.”