Friday, 26 September, 2008
Ruckman Brent Renouf will fly the Queensland flag with fellow Gold Coaster Michael Osborne in Saturday’s AFL Grand Final at the MCG.
Renouf, set to play on the biggest stage in just his eighth AFL game, survived the selection cut when Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson named an unchanged side.
Simon Taylor, a fixture in the Hawthorn ruck division until unseated by Renouf late in the season, was named in the emergencies with Travis Tuck and Tom Murphy.
Renouf will line up alongside Osborne, who will play his 99th game on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Geelong coach Mark Thompson answered football’s most asked question when he left speedster David Wojcinski out of his side to make way for the return of forward Paul Chapman.
Wojcinski, a member of the ’07 premiership side, paid the price for a limited preparation – he has played only one AFL game since Round 15 due to injury.
He was named in the emergencies with Ryan Gamble and ’07 premiership teammate Shannon Byrnes.
In four changes from last year, Wojcinksi, Byrnes, the retired Nathan Ablett and ex-captain Stephen King, now at St.Kilda, have been replaced by Mark Blake, a controversial omission 12 months ago, first-year player Harry Taylor, Tom Lonergan, who suffered a dreadful kidney injury two years ago, and Travis Varcoe.
Wojcinski, 28, played 13 of the first 15 games of the season, but was felled by an achilles injury in the round 15 win over Fremantle.
"Obviously I am disappointed, but this isn't about me," Wojcinski told the Geelong website. "The most important thing is our team, and preparing to play Hawthorn on Saturday. I will be supporting my mates and the team on Saturday and playing any role that I can to help us win."
The pacy defender won back his spot in the side for the preliminary final where he amassed 18 possessions, kicked a goal and went inside forward 50 six times, but it wasn't enough to secure his spot this week.
Just as stiff to miss out is Hawthorn’s Taylor, who played 18 games this season before being rested after round 21 in order to freshen up for the finals series.
This opened the door for Renouf, who has made maximum use of his opportunity and secured the spot because of his greater athleticism.
Also feeling hard done by in the Hawthorn camp will be 22-year-old Murphy. He, too, played 18 games in what has been a break-out season for the 189 cm defender. He played in the qualifying final but lost his spot to Stephen Gilham, who excelled against St Kilda star Nick Riewoldt in the preliminary final.
In a Grand Final side note, the Cats' Max Rooke has the chance to make a little history of his own if he is part of a premiership side on Saturday.
Rooke, having missed Geelong's only loss this season, is currently tied with teammate Cameron Ling on 27 consecutive winning matches. If the Cats win he’ll go one ahead of Ling, whose run ended when the Cats were felled by Collingwood in Round 9.
Grand Final Teams are:-
Geelong
B: Tom Harley, Matthew Scarlett, Josh Hunt
HB: Darren Milburn, Harry Taylor, Andrew Mackie
C: Joel Selwood, Cameron Ling, Corey Enright
HF: Steve Johnson, Cameron Mooney, Jimmy Bartel
F: Paul Chapman, Tom Lonergan, Mathew Stokes
Foll: Brad Ottens, Joel Corey, Gary Ablett
I/C: Mark Blake, Travis Varcoe, James Kelly, Max Rooke
EMG: David Wojcinski, Ryan Gamble, Shannon Byrnes
In: Chapman. Out: David Wojcinski
Hawthorn
B: Stephen Gilham, Trent Croad, Brent Guerra
HB: Grant Birchall, Luke Hodge, Rick Ladson
C: Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Chance Bateman
HF: Michael Osborne, Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli
F: Mark Williams, Jarryd Roughead, Campbell Brown
Foll: Robert Campbell, Brad Sewell, Shane Crawford
I/C: Stuart Dew, Xavier Ellis, Brent Renouf, Clinton Young
EMG: Thomas Murphy, Simon Taylor, Travis Tuck
No change
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