Place Preview - Beware the Pies on the Rebound as they look to swoop Cats
Andrew Thomson
PIES NEED TO BOUNCE BACK AGAINST BROADBEACH
The Western Magpies will be looking to put behind last week's uncharacteristically poor performance when they welcome last year's runners-up Broadbeach to McCarthy Homes Oval at Chelmer in Round 4 QAFL action on Saturday.
Both teams have one victory with Broadbeach coming from behind to sneak past Mt Gravatt by a point and were well beaten in Round 1 by Palm Beach-Currumbin.
Given the Pies had an arm wrestle in Round 1 with Mt Gravatt it can be assumed little separates the Pies and Cats for this clash.
The Pies were poor last week in what was an aberration for a side that hadn’t lost a game by more than 25 points since the midway point of the 2017 season, with the challenge being learning to win the close ones.
The Pies welcome back Aaron Highlands and Liam Dwyer to bolster the big man department and both were missed last week. Will Fletcher comes back in after missing the past 2 weeks with an ankle and he was impressive in the mid field in round 1 before his injury. Winger/half forward Lachie Dennis gets a recall after a late start too the season but showed enough in Reserves last week and Harry Marshall comes in to the side to bolster the defence to cover for the unavailable Jack Goodall.
Also out are Val Pope (unavailable), Zane Lovell with a sore knee, Jack Briskey (unavailable) and Cal Carseldine has been rested by his NEAFL club Aspley, who have a bye
Interestingly, Aspley have refused Doug Lawrence and Tom Baulch permission to play which may make some sense with Lawrence, but Baulch is a Primary Listed Magpies player - work that one out!
Coach Brydan Morgan will no doubt have his charges switched on as they were very slow to start last week after a change to the training schedule due to the Good Friday match. It was back to normal this week and the Pies look stronger for this game and will be ready from the first bounce.
Claye Beams has returned to something close to full fitness and will be keen to put his stamp on the game and youngsters Riley Greene and Ethan Sivijs will be even better for the experience of last week where both were among the better players for the Pies.
The Pies will need to be tuned in from the first bounce against the Cats, who won both clashes last year due to their outside run. On their newly minted home turf the Pies will be keen to put last week's aberration behind them and bounce back to the winners list as they look to turn McCarthy Homes Oval into a home fortress.
