NAB Cup 2012 - your guide to week 1The Age
February 14, 2012RICHMOND
Expected new faces: The Tigers' first three draft picks of last season — Brandon Ellis, Todd Elton and Matthew Arnot — were lauded by vice-captain Trent Cotchin last week. The new player most likely to appear though, is Steven Morris, a 23-year-old defender recruited from the SANFL.
Key absentees: Brett Deledio's hamstring twinge is likely to keep him out until late in the competition. Spearhead Jack Riewoldt has only a month's training behind him and may not be used immediately. Promising key-position player David Astbury is making slow progress recovering from a knee injury, while defender Kel Moore is still recovering from a troublesome hip.
Club's aim: The Tigers have not declared a single-minded willingness to pursue a pre-season premiership, with Cotchin predicting that fine-tuning match strategies will be a key goal. For this week's matches, however, assistant coach Ross Smith has declared the likelihood the Tigers will field a very senior team. The most obvious area of interest will be whether the off-season recruitment of Ivan Maric will give the Tigers a more formidable ruck division. The talented midfielders are on notice that they will be expected to be more competitive this season.
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HAWTHORNExpected new faces: The Hawks gave a glimpse of the new faces that might emerge this week with Jack Gunston, Jarrad Boumann, Alex Woodward, Bradley Hill and Angus Litherland all looking good in the practice match in Tasmania last week.
Key absentees: David Hale will miss after rolling his ankle at training yesterday. Jarryd Roughead and Stephen Gilham are both still returning from long-term knee injuries. Roughead is in the midst of his own pre-season and so is still some time off.
Club's aim: It would be wrong to say the Hawks don't care about the Nab Cup ñ the young players mentioned earlier will be most eager to impress ñ but they have Collingwood and Geelong in the first two rounds so their focus and priorities reside elsewhere.
NORTH MELBOURNEExpected new faces: VFL recruit Sam Gibson's sparkling form in the Kangaroos intra-club match has pushed him to the front of the queue among the new players.
Key absentees: Daniel Wells, whose rejuvenation last season was one of the most notable in the league, is still a month away from resuming full training while he completes his recovery from blood clots in his lungs.
Club's aim: The Kangaroos theoretically boast one of the league's strongest ruck combinations with Todd Goldstein and Hamish McIntosh. Both are primarily specialist ruckmen, however, the lingering unanswered question is whether they can afford to rotate one through their three-man bench, or convert one to a legitimate key-position option. Their surfeit of the latter - Drew Petrie, Robbie Tarrant, Cameron Pedersen among them - should make it harder to utilise the resting ruckman forward or back, although the lower stakes of pre-season make it a perfect time to experiment.
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