Coburg will return home to Piranha Park for the first time in almost a month when it hosts Footscray on Saturday afternoon.
The Lions struggled last week against a strong Essendon side, so will be eager to put in a much improved performance this week.
Coburg are coming off a six day break whereas the Bulldogs are coming off a bye which they won two of their three previous matches before.
Coburg has already faced Footscray once earlier this year in a game it was in early, before being blown away in the second half by a Bulldogs side with a lot of AFL listed players.
The Bulldogs midfield has been one of its strongest points with William Hayes (averaging 25 disposals a game) and Josh Wallis (19 disposals a game) both strong. Coburg will have to lift its work in the midfield as it is one of the bottom sides in the VFL in terms of both clearances and contested possessions. Coburg will need big games from the likes of Marcus Lentini, Ryan Exon and Ben Allan if it is to improve in these areas.
There are a couple of massive additions to Coburg’s team this week with both Mark Kovacevic and Mitch Conn named for their first games of the season.
Kovacevic has had a long road to recovery after an ACL injury in mid-2017 but finally returns to VFL football. Coburg is thankful to the fitness team at West Preston Lakeside for their care and flexibility with Kovacevic over his four games at the club this season.
Conn has been playing some great football for Sunbury in the Ballarat Football League so far this season where he has been named in the best players on four of six occasions (twice first best). This form culminated in selection in the BFL interleague team which recently played on the MCG.
Both players are former Calder Cannons which brings the number of former Cannons in this weeks line-up to 11 including Mitch Podhajski who is a current Calder Cannon.
Sean Gregory also comes into the 22 as Daman Aujla, Mark Orr and Tom Wallis come out of the side.
Be sure to make your way to Piranha Park on Saturday afternoon to watch the team in action!
Coburg
IN: Gregory, Conn, Kovacevic
OUT: Aujla, Orr, Wallis
Footscray
B: 25. M. Adams, 57. L. Smith, 32. K. Collins
HB: 51. L. Dalgleish, 2. L. Young, 36. B. Lynch
C: 56. W. Hayes, 5. J. Dunkley, 60. A. Tashevski-Beckwith
HF: 66. A. Monfries, 50. J. Prudden, 28. C. Porter
F: 15. T. Campbell, 30. F. Greene, 18. F. Roberts
R: 23. J. Roughead, 46. L. Jong, 61. L. Nash
Int: 55. A. Greenwood, 40. N. Mullenger-Mchugh, 62. B. Olsson, 53. L. Sullivan, 68. D. Symeopoulos, 58. E. Wales, 67. J. Wallis, 54. R. William
23P: 70. C. Henness
