Wodonga Raiders’ coach Daryn Cresswell says Albury will target the mercurial Brodie Filo on Saturday like it did with Wodonga on-baller Jarrod Hodgkin last week.
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But Cresswell is adamant the Tigers won’t overstep the mark.
“No, I think they’ll tag him very heavily, (Will) Blomeley will go to him and we’ve got some plans for that,” Cresswell said.
“And he needs a bit of support too, don’t worry, Brodie’s used to it, he’s been tagged the majority of his career.
“We’ll put a bit of time into their players.”
Albury has tagged three players in Yarrawonga’s Mark Whiley, North Albury’s Shaun Mannagh and Hodgkin.
“We’ll definitely play close attention to him (Filo), he’s probably one of the premier players in the competition, he’s very skilful,” Albury co-coach Joel Mackie said.
“He’s one of their most important players I suppose, so if we can take him out, it’s a long way to stopping them.”
Filo has been superb in his debut season, but he was caught in possession a number of times against Myrtleford.
It wasn’t necessarily his fault, rather team-mates looked to him to weave his magic when he had players virtually on top of him.
We’ll definitely play close attention to him (Filo) ... he’s one of their most important players I suppose, so if we can take him out, it’s a long way to stopping them.
- Joel Mackie
Mackie says Raiders are the league’s most unpredictable outfit.
“They seem to change it up a fair bit, they chop and change with players in different positions all the time,” he said.
“You can plan for one thing and they’ll pop up with another one.
“They’re quick and just move the ball really quick and the other side to that if it’s not working for them, they’ll maintain it and chip it around.”
Mackie’s summation will delight Cresswell as teams will need a number of plans to topple the runaway competition leaders.
The Tigers’ mentor says it’s unlikely the club will debut Tom O’Brien and Jessy Wilson, while Raiders’ Shane Munro has been named as an emergency just three weeks after fracturing his cheekbone and eye socket.
Raiders have won five straight games.