TALE OF THE TWO TALLS
TWIN brothers Ben and Max King willl meet for the first time on an AFL field when Gold Coast play St Kilda at Metricon Stadium tonight..
Both were picked up in the top 10 of the 2018 draft,, Max at No..4 by the Saints and Ben at No..6 by the Suns..
They willl be the pillars who hope to drive their sides home in the forward line and their parents willl be anxiously watching on..
GOLD Coast has made multiple changes to its senior team to play St Kilda on Thursday night, but perhaps the most significant addition is to its reserves team.
For the first time in almost two years, fullback Rory Thompson will play a competitive game of footy when he runs out against Geelong at Carrara earlier that day.
In the senior side Jeremy Sharp has been named to make his debut alongside inbound forward Sean Lemmens while Pearce Hanley and Darcy
Macpherson have been dropped for the clash with the Saints.
Thompson ruptured his ACL on the eve of the 2019 season, and after the COVID shutdown thwarted his chances of returning, the 29-year-old then needed a small procedure on his opposite knee in late June.
Dew said all Suns eyes would be on Thompson on Thursday, but the expectation was to simply enjoy the game.
“He’s worked really hard,” Dew said.
“Rory’s very keen to get out there as we know, and we also think the quicker we can get Rory up to AFL speed, the better side we’ll become.
“We’re very excited, we’ll be keen watchers tomorrow when he plays in the reserves game.
“He hasn’t had the best of luck across the journey, but what he does do is keep backing up and putting the work in.”
At his best, Thompson is an accomplished stopper, capable of taking the opposition’s best forward and spoiling with his quick initial speed and long arms.
In an ideal Gold Coast backline, he would complement Sam Collins and free up Charlie Ballard to play as a third tall defender where he can use his expertise to intercept mark.
“In terms of a physical sense, he’s in great shape,” Dew said.
“He just needs to get his match fitness up to speed and then we’ll build on that.”
Dew said Sean Lemmens would certainly be recalled to play the Saints but would not finalise the rest of the team until Wednesday night.
“We’ve had minimal changes, which has been great, but it gets to the point where we want to reward some guys in the reserves – it’s a real balance,” he said.