BY JACK KOVACIC.
Coburg will travel to the Swinburne Centre (Punt Road Oval) on Saturday morning to take on Richmond as it attempts to notch up its first win of 2018.
The ladder isn’t looking pretty for Lions fans, but with improvement coming every week the future is looking bright.
Coburg were in the game all day last week against Collingwood but just couldn’t quite come away with the win.
Coach Leigh Adams will be hoping the improvement continues to come this week in what will be a tough matchup against the ladder-leading Tigers.
Anthony Miles has been in good form for Richmond, while Steven Morris has been strong in defence.
Richmond has been strong all season, averaging 12 more contested possessions a game than Coburg, so there will need to be a lift on the inside.
Richmond also have been one of the better teams of the competition in terms of getting the ball inside 50, so Coburg will need big games from the likes of defenders Harry Nolan and Sean Gregory.
There aren’t many changes to this week’s Coburg team, with the young group now stringing games together; learning the way their teammates play.
Michael Ercolano and Mitch Conn have been named on the extended bench, and could play their first games of 2018.
Sam Binion will also make his VFL debut after joining the club for training this week. He was a Northern Knight in 2017 and has been playing this season for Montmorency in the Northern Football League.
Saturday’s match is the curtain-raiser to Richmond’s AFL match and will start at 10:45am as a result.
Coburg
B: 9. N. Blair, 43. H. Nolan, 17. L. Dickson
HB: 36. J. Guthrie, 10. S. Gregory, 15. J. Iacobaccio
C: 38. D. Aujla, 5. R. Exon, 2. J. Corigliano
HF: 32. B. Cannolo, 6. M. Orr, 37. J. Murphy
F: 7. J. Belo, 12. P. McEvoy, 33. J. Weightman
R: 29. T. Goodwin, 42. M. Lentini, 30. J. O’Donoghue
Int: 1. B. Allan, 28. C. Byrne, 20. M. Conn, 14. M. Ercolano, 16. J. Fox, 3. H. Kerbatieh, 34. T. Lever, 4. T. Wallis
23P: 46. S. Binion
Richmond
B: 79. W. Coates, 42. R. Garthwaite, 51. S. Morris
HB: 5. B. Ellis, 31. O. Markov, 61. J. Fletcher
C: 45. P. Naish, 26. A. Miles, 64. T. Silvestro
HF: 17. D. Rioli, 41. M. Chol, 44. T. Stengle
F: 48. L. Baker, 40. C. Coleman-Jones, 21. J. Townsend
R: 47. I. Soldo, 32. C. Ellis, 27. S. Lloyd
Int: 54. J. Ballard, 38. N. Balta, 55. R. Bathie, 67. B. Credlin, 73. J. Ernest, 56. B. Grewar, 52. S. Mannagh, 57. B. Wood
23P: 59. H. Tanner
