Untried Suns teenager to mind Milne
Untried Gold Coast teenager Jeremy Taylor could be handed the tough gig on St Kilda forward Stephen Milne at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.
Milne is coming off an eight-goal haul against Adelaide which took his season tally to 39.
Now in his 11th season, Milne is at the peak of his powers with a career tally of 473 goals.
Taylor, 19, said coach Guy McKenna mentioned on Monday that Milne could be his match-up.
It was at odds with what McKenna told the media on Wednesday when he said Josh Toy or Joel Wilkinson were likely to mind Milne. Both of those players were dropped.
"I got told by Bluey on Monday. I'm really excited," Taylor said.
"I was thinking about that when he kicked his eight last week.
"I was actually pretty excited for the challenge, I like a good challenge."
The Saints' clash comes in the middle of a tough three-week run for the Suns, who were beaten by competition leaders Collingwood last week and face Geelong next week.
Suns development coach Andy Lovell said Milne was one of the hardest forwards for the Suns to match up on and they were mindful of not using one of their very few experienced players.
"He's a hard player to match up on because even though he's small and so good at ground level, he's a good mark and uses his body well in one-on-one contests," Lovell said on Friday.
"Taylor, who plays his first game for the club, has got the ability to play small and tall.
"It's a big task for a young bloke playing his first game to play on such a great player as Milne but he's got the temperament to be able to handle it.
"He's a young player that could possibly do the job."
St Kilda is on the march to September after a sluggish start and have won their past four games since returning from a bye.
Their 103-point win over Adelaide last week injected a huge amount of percentage and catapulted them into the eight.
Their only setback is skipper Nick Riewoldt won't playbecause of a one match suspension.
Lovell said the Saints were another test and an education for their younger players.
"Watching them over the last month or so they've got that work rate back I'd say and a preparedness to work for each other which has been the hallmark of their game," Lovell said.
"The stats say they're conceding the least number of points against, so it's really difficult to score against them.
"It's hard to measure other than the stats but it looks like their intensity is back and their forward press and they're up in your face and they're causing turnovers so it indicates their A Game is back."
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