Dream Team Couch – 2008 AFL Dream Team Blog

The courageous young gun from Geelong who as we all know had a sickening collision a few years back in which he lost a kidney and nearly died, made his triumphant return for Geelong last week. Tommy proved he still had it in him; he managed to boot 2 goals 3 behinds in his return game for 42 DT points and has held his spot again thi…s week. Mark Thompson said a few days after the game that Lonergan will “definitely be playing this week,” that’s a sure sign of belief in this guy and they are obviously keen down at the club to see him in the firsts.  

He shunted Hawkins out of the side this week after weeks of dodgy form for the young tomahawk, so one wonders just how long Lonergan will hold his spot? I reckon with some good form, it could be a while:).

Hawkins is young, and Geelong generally like to rest their young fella’s a fair bit, (i was right with this prediction last week when I predicted gamble wouldn’t make the side for the blues game). Considering how Lonergan has had a few more years experience than Hawkins, I think as long as he plays some good footy he could hold his spot over tomahawk for a while. 

So what does this mean for dream team coaches out there? Well since harry Taylor was dropped this week to the dismay of many DT coaches, some might want to trade him off for some cash, but who do you buy? Answer: Tom Lonergan. Of course im sure harry will make his way back into the side, but whether he rises anymore in value is another question, I can’t see him rising much more personally.

Lonergan is classed as a back in DT even though he plays full forward, he is worth 92k right now and has proven he can play good footy. In the VFL grand final last year, lonergan played the first half full back shutting his opponent down convincingly. When the cats were up by a fair margin at half time, Lonergan was moved to full forward where he kicked in the second half alone 6 goals!! This won him best on ground honours, the kid can play! He had 5 shots on goal last week, the first game back nerves hit him as he managed 3 behinds in the first quarter. I really reckon he could be worth a shot, he is cheap at 92k and is the perfect replacement for cash cow Harry Taylor who I don’t see rising in value much more even upon return, whereas there is great potential in big Tom Lonergan.