North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson says he hopes clearance king Ben Cunnington can return to his greatest kind after he was a shock substitution in opposition to Carlton.
Cunnington was taken out of the sport halfway by way of the third quarter within the Kangaroos’ Good Friday loss to the Blues, after managing simply 10 disposals, three kicks and failing to register a clearance.
Clarkson stated the 31-year-old was withdrawn as a like-for-like swap with sub Hugh Greenwood, including that the North veteran understood the decision to take him out of the sport.
“He’s a proud man and I’d be hoping that he’d want to respond. He was well below his best last week, and he understands that,” the Kangaroos coach stated.
“That’s going to happen, he’s been on a pretty significant journey over the last two years and he’s trying to find his feet at AFL level again.
“He’s played some good footy for us, and for two and a half quarters he wasn’t able to have the impact in the game that we would’ve liked.”
Clarkson stated anybody failing to carry out their function to one of the best of their talents was honest recreation to be taken off if he had not used the tactical sub within the remaining phases.
“By halfway through the third quarter every coach in the competition if they’ve still got their sub available to them, they’re looking at that player saying, ‘we can bring a fresh man on, who’s not playing their role to the level’, and last week it was Cunners,” he stated.
“I would hope that’s not the case this week, and that he plays a really, really strong game for us, which we need him to do because Brisbane’s midfield is one of the strongest in the competition and when they win, they usually win that midfield battle.
“They absolutely smashed Melbourne in that space … Brisbane just torched them in that game where the lights went out.”
Ben McKay will definitely return to face the Lions in Mount Barker alongside the suspended Griffin Logue, with Clarkson suggesting the pair may have made the distinction in opposition to the Blues, who benefited from excellent performances from Charlie Curnow and McKay’s brother, Harry.
“We’re really keen for (McKay) to get back in and hopefully stabilise our defence – we saw last week those two big guys for Carlton really got a hold of us in the second half, and it was probably the difference in the game in the end for them to kick 10 goals between them and probably have about 25 marks between them,” he stated.
Key ahead Nick Larkey “might need to go to the line” as he recovers from a hip pointer damage sustained in a collision with Jacob Weitering final week, Clarkson stated.
The Kangaroos main goalkicker ran strongly at Arden St on Thursday and can be given “every chance” to play the Lions, he stated.
Source: www.news.com.au
