MOUNT Pleasant was yesterday hoping Adam Dalton’s clearance would be successful last night, allowing the imposing big man to play against White Hills in the Heathcote District Football League today.Dalton lodged a clearance on Thursday to leave Northern Football League club North Heidelberg and return to the Blues.Dalton was a member of the Blues’ premiership team in 2006, kicking 28 goals for the season.‘‘The clearance is in and we’re just hoping to get it through,’’ Blues coach Cameron Carter said yesterday.‘‘If it comes through (last night) we will play him this weekend.‘‘We’re hopeful, but we will just have to wait and see.’’ Carter said the Blues had been on the lookout for a tall forward and that Dalton would be a good fit back at the club.‘‘We have been looking around for a forward, so we made contact with him and he indicated he would be happy to come back,’’ Carter said.‘‘I think he enjoyed his time at Mount Pleasant when he was with us.‘‘He has had a year-and-a-half playing football back in Melbourne and it probably just hasn’t worked out the way he wanted.‘‘A key forward for us is obviously going to make a big difference.‘‘We have been getting it down to the forward line enough and we have had some guys do quite well down there, but we’ve just been lacking that tall,’’ he said.’‘ You look at the other sides like Elmore, which has Ryan Hayes, Colbinabbin has Sam Hill and Heathcote probably has three or four big blokes, so that’s the area we see the need to improve in.’’ After eight rounds this season, Mount Pleasant has only Jamie Gee (29), Luke Freeman (15) and Bradley King (10) who have kicked 10 or more goals.The Blues, a perennial powerhouse, presently sit in fourth position on the ladder having now lost three games in a row.‘‘We started well when we were 3-1, but we have just lost some key top-end players,’’ said Carter, who is expected to be out until round 12 because of a fractured cheek.‘‘We can’t use that as an excuse, but it hasn’t helped, and it’s probably a credit that we were 3-1 at one stage.’’ Those who have had injury-interrupted years for the Blues include Carter, Mark Bangit and Peter Krueger, who will all miss today, Matt Johnson, Jess O’Brien, Ben McCleary, Daniel O’Connell and Rob Rojewski.‘‘We’re not even halfway through the season yet and we would hope a bad month doesn’t break us,’’ Carter said.‘‘We will get a few blokes back in the second half of the year and, hopefully, we will come home with a wet sail.’’ Today’s round nine HDFL games: Broadford v North Bendigo, Colbinabbin v Huntly, Lockington Bamawm United v Heathcote, White Hills v Mount Pleasant.
