ESSENDON assistant coach Alan Richardson has revealed that emerging defender Tayte Pears will get the job on Carlton spearhead Brendon Fevola when the old rivals meet at the MCG on Friday night.
Fevola proved a handful for Darcy Daniher when the sides last met in round three but only had four goals to show from 12 shots as the Blues fell to a shock four-point loss.
But Richardson said the Bombers would resist the temptation to start with the more experienced Dustin Fletcher on the dangerous forward.
“Fletcher will certainly get his opportunity to play on Fev. Tayte Pears will be the one early. He will get first crack and he has been in terrific form so he will get first go,” Richardson said.
“The way Fletcher plays, it will be more a team defence than perhaps a one-on-one defence. We hope we can get that structure right.”
In other selection news, Henry Slattery is expected to come in for the suspended Mark McVeigh, who will miss one week after pleading guilty to striking Melbourne's Jared Rivers.
Richardson also said on Thursday morning that Brent Prismall, who has played two senior games since recovering from a knee reconstruction, has been nursed through training this week but should be right to play.
The Essendon assistant said Fletcher’s return to the side would change the structure that may result in Patrick Ryder spending more time up forward in the second half of the season.
“Now that Fletcher’s back, Cale (Hooker) will play a bit more time in the ruck, potentially allowing Paddy to go forward. Being the forward line coach that’s a good thing, he can certainly take a big catch,” he said.
Richardson conceded that injuries to senior Essendon players in the first half of the year had resulted in an increased workload on the younger Bombers.
“The reality is that early we haven’t been able to adjust our load, particularly on game day, as much as we would have liked. If there is one player who has probably suffered it would be (David) Zaharakis,” he said.
“Because of injuries to others he had to play significant minutes. Generally our young blokes have been terrific.”
Richardson said he was surprised at reports Fevola would use Essendon’s celebration after their round-three win as motivation this week.
“That would surprise me if it was a motivator for them but the reality is that elation shown by the coaches is almost a respect for Carlton," he said.
"We rate them very highly and to win in the fashion we did against what we think is a pretty good football team – the emotion spilled out.”
