ALBURY faces a grand final selection headache with Aisake O’hAilpin and Michael Thompson poised to return from injury.
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O’hAilpin withdrew from Albury’s side on Friday night with a hamstring complaint while Thompson hasn’t fully recovered from a quad injury he suffered in round 17 but Tigers co-coach Daniel Maher expected both to take their place in the decider in a fortnight.
Ben Dower, sporting a Max Gawn-style beard and haircut, rucked superbly in O’hAilpin’s absence and would be desperately unlucky to be dropped after his performance in Saturday’s second semi-final.
“We’ve been really impressed with Benny in the last month, six weeks, when he’s taken that No.1 ruck role,” Maher said.
“That’s what coaching involves, you have to make hard calls sometimes. In grand finals, there’s always a hard-luck story and, unfortunately, in a sense, that’s what you want.
“We’ll sit down as a coaching group, we’ve obviously got two weeks to work on what we want to do.”
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Xavier Mardling
Xavier started at The Border Mail in Albury-Wodonga in 2001, covering sport and general news before moving to the subs' desk. He was editor of his hometown masthead from 2016 to 2020 before swapping the Murray for Merewether. He returned to The Border Mail as editor in 2023.
Xavier started at The Border Mail in Albury-Wodonga in 2001, covering sport and general news before moving to the subs' desk. He was editor of his hometown masthead from 2016 to 2020 before swapping the Murray for Merewether. He returned to The Border Mail as editor in 2023.
