One of NT Thunder’s favourite sons, Richard Tambling, is hoping to return for the Round 8 NEAFL clash against Canberra in Darwin on Saturday night.
Tambling, who hasn’t played for Thunder since Round 19 last season and recently underwent an arthroscopy on his knee, will still need to pass an internal medical examination before taking the field.
However, two new faces are confirmed for the NT this weekend, with Banks Bulldogs Football Club’s Cohen Thiele and Rovers Football Club’s Nigel Lockyer in line to play their first games for the club.
Thiele, who has previous experience playing for North Adelaide in the SANFL, is a talented footballer who has spent the last three years with NTFL Division 1 club, Banks. An inside midfielder with a tenacious attack on the ball he brings a wealth of experience to the playing group.
Lockyer is a 21-year-old tall defender from Alice Springs who has had a positive start to the 2019 TIO CAFL season and has earned his selection to the Thunder team off the back of consistent performances. Along with Abraham Ankers and Dylan Barry he will be the third Central Australian representative in the side this week.
The two become the fifteenth and sixteenth debutants for NT Thunder in 2019 after Nathaniel Paredes was called up to the side late last week and made an impact in his first game for the club.
Kieran Delahunty also returns for his first game since Round 5 with the tall assuming his usual position in the forward line.
Going out of the side in what is the clash of the two territories is Hugo Drogemuller, Daniel Weetra and Phillip Wills, who are all absent due to the same work commitment, and Nick Yarran who picked up a knee injury in Round 7.
Ross Tungatalum and Joe Anderson, who were late withdrawals last week with an ankle complaint and virus respectively, remain sidelined.
NT Thunder Head Coach Darren Reeves said along with the possibility of Tambling, the inclusion of Delahunty, Thiele and Lockyer had him excited.
“To have someone of Richie’s experience back in the side would be monumental in terms of driving standards and giving direction out on the field but we’ll see what the Territory Sportsmedicine experts say and take it from there.
“Before having hamstring complaints Kieran had been one of our more consistent performers and so it’s great to have him back providing clean hands and a target for the boys to hit-up.
“One of the things we like most about Cohen and Nigel is that we know that with their inclusion we are guaranteed effort because they’re two guys that will dig in and have a crack.
“There’s no hiding from the fact that as a collective we’ve been lacking that effort or not been consistent enough with that approach out on the field over the past month and a bit, so brooding new talent that brings with them a commitment and desire to play at this level is certainly welcome,” he said.
On Paredes, Reeves said he was pleased to see him find good touch towards the end of last Saturday night’s game.
“I thought Nate started a little bit slow and was pretty much how you’d expect a guy who has missed three months of footy to be but by the end of the game he was getting in great position and throwing himself into contested situations trying his best to win the ball.”
Reeves said that should Tambling not be cleared to play then it opened the door for another young Territorian to step up.
“It’s really pleasing to add Joel Stevens as our first emergency because he’s been doing all the hard work at training, from the under 18s right through to switching over to the seniors in the past couple of weeks.
“He was a leader of the Academy side and will slot in well should Richie or one of the other boys not get up in time for Saturday,” he said.
On Canberra, Reeves said the team would aim to start the game strongly.
“We look at Canberra and see that they’re just above us on the ladder, but that doesn’t say much because on the one hand they’ve had good wins and on the other some significant losses.
“They’ve got a lot of midfield depth and are great runners, so we’ll have to make sure we’re switched on from the start and not letting them get the early jump on us because we’ve been bad in this area a few times this season and paid dearly for it.”
NEAFL Round 8
NT Thunder vs Canberra Demons
6:30pm ACST, Saturday 25 May
TIO Stadium, Darwin
B: Braedon McLean, David Johnston, Kieren Parnell
HB: Ben Rioli, Nigel Lockyer, Clinton Gallio
C: Brodie Carroll, Nathaniel Paredes, Dylan Barry
HF: Chris Williams, Dean Staunton, Kieran Delahunty
F: Adam Tipungwuti, Trent Melville, Shannon Rioli (c)
FOLL: Jack Hannath, Cohen Thiele, Abraham Ankers (c)
INT: Ben Taylor*, Richard Tambling, Jack Monigatti, Tom Davies, Jacob Templeton
EMERGENCIES: Joel Stevens, Sam Dyke, Brandon Rusca
IN: Kieran Delahunty, Nigel Lockyer, Richard Tambling, Cohen Thiele
OUT: Hugo Drogemuller (work), Daniel Weetra (work), Phillip Wills (work), Nick Yarran (knee)
NEW: Nigel Lockyer, Cohen Thiele
* Indicates 23rd player
You can live stream this game ThunderVision if you’re unable to make it: https://www.youtube.com/TerritoryThunder