A strong Storm brews at colts carnival

Great Southern Storm head coach Glynn Verbruggen will have a talent-stacked side at his disposal for this weekend’s Great Southern Colts Carnival in Lake Grace, in their bid to return to the grand final.

The Storm had made eight consecutive grand final appearances at the long-running carnival leading into last year, but a defeat by Peel left them out of the 2018 decider.

Some strong top-age players have bolstered the Storm squad for their 2019 campaign, which will be used as a lead-up to next month’s Landmark Country Football Championships in Perth.

Taj Williams and Hamish McMorran both spent the pre-season with WAFL club Claremont and head the squad of 28 that will be trimmed today ahead of their departure tomorrow.

Injury clouds remain over Shane Buss and Callum Redshaw, and speedster Brody Ogle will miss the carnival through injury.

Fraser Eaton and Bryce Blaszkow have both withdrawn from the squad.

Verbruggen is confident in the squad he had assembled, especially the abundance of key position players.

“We’ve got a taller, stronger key position side, plus more top-age talent available than normal,” he said.

“It will be really advantageous for us taking a really young side last year and then the majority of them being a year older.”

Assisting Verbruggen with coaching duties at the carnival will be Kurt McKain, Cameron Allison and Craig Frost. Storm will face neighbouring rivals Ongerup in their first game on Saturday before a clash with Peel in the afternoon to determine if they reach Sunday’s decider.

“We have to be at our best on Saturday to make it into the grand final,” Verbruggen said.

“The team is pretty well prepared and excited for the weekend in Lake Grace.

“We have a very exciting front six and that allows us to move the ball long and a more direct in general play.”

Great Southern Storm squad: Dylan Gowdie, Callum Redshaw, Taj Williams, Brock Anning, Kieran Gowdie, Jermaine Bropho, Cody Kerr, Gryphon Roy, Kalin Lane, Jarrod Brack, Nitan Benavides, Brent Parsons, Mitch Ballard, Rhys Hogg, Alex Pearce, Talon Delacey, Henry Alforque, Henrick Alforque, Joe Alvin, Sam Want, Cyrus Upson, Coen Jackman, Kyle Smith, Ryan Davies, Hamish McMorran, Shane Buss, Poch Amores, Tyreice Brown