Jake Cox is back but Lauderdale will make sure he doesn’t have it all his own way
After two months out for a knee complaint, Clarence destroyer Jake Cox is back to take on TSL ladder leader Lauderdale.
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JAKE Cox might be a sight for sore eyes to Clarence supporters but Lauderdale will give him a hostile reception in their TSL clash at Blundstone Arena and assign its best defender to ensure his return from injury is not a happy occasion.
Many times Cox has been the master of Lauderdale’s demise but Bombers coach Darren Winter has a plan to end their pain, even though the sharp-shooting Roo has not played for nine weeks due to a bung knee.
“We don’t expect him to be 100 per cent but ‘Coxy’ at 80 per cent is still really good player,” Winter said.
“Josh McGuiness will go to him – he’s the only one who has been able to quieten him down over the journey.
“We will throw Josh on him and see how he goes.”
Cox has hurt Lauderdale more times that Winter cares to remember.
“How many games has he won the game off his own boot – quite a few,” he said.
“He’s been the one who has really carved us up over the years and turned games in a quarter.
“We will put our best defender on him, someone who can run with him in the midfield and through the back half.”
Clarence coach Jeromey Webberley said Lauderdale was the best team the Roos have played.
“It’s a good opportunity for our young guys to play against the best team in the competition, probably the flag favourite, so we can continue to develop our game as much as we can,” he said.
Webberley kicked five goals against Glenorchy last week but he will play further afield today.
“We are going to move the ball quickly for the whole game to create scoring opportunities,” he said.
“We opened up Glenorchy in the first half by doing that, but we’ve got to make sure we don’t give away our momentum like we did last week.”
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