Following an exciting weekend of footy, the Suns are pumped to take on the Bombers at Metricon Stadium on Monday night in Game 6 of the NAB Challenge. However, both teams will be feeling slight pressure with a number of strong players sidelined due to injury.
For the Gold Coast, Dion Prestia is out with a calf injury, Nathan Bock is having leg issues, Rory Thompson is having abductor trouble while Zac Smith is recovering from a knee injury. This allows Jack Martin the chance to prove he’s ready to make his AFL debute after playing in the NAB last year.
Missing for Essendon include Paul Chapman, Brendon Goddard and Jobs Watson who make way for draftees Orazio Fantasia, Zach Merrett and Fraser Thurlow, along with new recruit Kurt Aylett to begin their 2014 campaigns.
Here are the teams:
Gold Coast
1. Jaeger O’Meara
3. Timmy Sumner
4. Jack Martin
5. Jarrod Harbrow
9. Gary Ablett (c)
12. Sam Day
13. Andrew Boston
14. Matthew Warnock
15. Daniel Gorringe
17. Steven May
18. Trent McKenzie
19. Tom Lynch
20. Henry Schade
21. Jeremy Taylor
22. Tom Nicholls
23. Charlie Dixon
24. David Swallow
25. Danny Stanley
26. Matthew Shaw
27. Clay Cameron
31. Jackson Allen
32. Brandon Matera
33. Aaron Hall
35. Michael Rischitelli
36. Greg Broughton
37. Jesse Lonergan
40. Sean Lemmens
46. Josh Hall
Essendon
1. Michael Hibberd
5. Brent Stanton
6. Joe Daniher
7. Leroy Jetta
10. Nick O’Brien
11. David Zaharakis
12. Mark Baguley
14. Jason Ashby
18. Michael Hurley
20. Jackson Merrett
21. Dyson Heppell
22. Jake Carlisle
24. Alex Browne
25. Ariel Steinberg
26. Cale Hooker
27. Zach Merrett
28. Elliott Kavanagh
29. Cory Dell’olio
30. Patrick Ryder
32. Travis Colyer
33. Dylan van Unen
34. Kyle Hardingham
35. Martin Gleeson
36. Lachlan Dalgleish
39. Heath Hocking
40. Ben Howlett
43. Kurt Aylett
44. Fraser Thurlow
46. Orazio Fantasia
Source: AFL, ‘NAB Challenge squads: Suns go in strong’, http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-02-15/nab-challenge-squads-dons-v-suns, accessed 17th February 2014