Speedy winger back for EssendonESSENDON hopes the pace of wingman Courtenay Dempsey will provide the Bombers with some much-needed run after the Queenslander was called-up to play in the elimination final against Adelaide tonight.
Dempsey (pictured) has strung together 19 games this season, his best return to date, after seemingly overcoming a spate of injuries that restricted the 22-year-old to just 10 AFL games over three seasons since his Bomber debut in 2006.
The speedy galloper, a former Manunda Hawks junior in Cairns in Far North Queensland, offers Essendon pace from a wing, something of an X-factor the Bombers could use up against tonight's favourites, the Crows.
Dempsey's last game was the Round 20 match against St Kilda, where the Bombers ended the Saints' run of 19 straight wins.
In other selection news, Carlton pair Eddie Betts and Jefferey Garlett have won a recall to the Blues' line-up to play Brisbane at the 'Gabba tomorrow night.
The pair were dropped from the side which played Adelaide last weekend for turning up late to a compulsory recovery session the weekend before, although their recall means Chris Yarran has had to make way for one of them.
The Blues were trounced by the Crows and they, too, face elimination from the finals race should they lose to the Lions.
Geelong's Travis Varcoe comes into the Cats side which plays the Western Bulldogs at the MCG tomorrow, while Brisbane's Rhan Hooper, Essendon's Leroy Jetta and Adelaide's Tony Armstrong were named as an emergencies for the Lions, Bombers and Crows respectively.
Also this weekend, Raphael Clarke (St Kilda), Leon Davis, Brad Dick and Sharrod Wellingham (Collingwood), Ash McGrath, Jason Roe and Sam Sheldon (Brisbane), Mathew Stokes (Geelong), Nathan Lovett-Murray, Jarrod Atkinson, Andrew Lovett (Essendon) and Graham Johncock and Andrew McLeod (Adelaide) all retain their positions in their respective first 22.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
Darren@AboriginalFootball.com.au
Friday, September 4, 2009
Last Modified on 15/09/2009 19:29