GISBORNE’S Ty Elliott will lock coaching horns with his good mate Nick Carter when Golden Square travels to Gardiner Reserve for their Bendigo Football League clash today.
Elliott and Carter were teammates at the Bendigo Diggers in 2001 and 2002, and while it may be eight years since they last played together, they remain close friends.
Although, for three hours today, they will turn from friends to foes as the BFL’s two Bulldog teams go toe-to-toe.
“Nick is clearly one of the better players who I played with; his toughness and hardness was a standout and he’s certainly a man who you have to be respectful of,’’ Elliott said yesterday.
“And in a lot of ways, I think where his club is at probably reflects him at the moment.
“We speak to each other weekly on the phone about how his side’s going and how mine is going... but there hasn’t been a call this week’’.
Elliott and Carter have already coached against each other once this season when Carter’s Golden Square destroyed Gisborne by 140 points in round five.
Star Golden Square full-forward Grant Weeks had 20 shots at goal that day for a return of 11.9, with his opponent today likely to be Heath Levis or Josh Di Camillo.
Heading into today’s round 14 match, Golden Square sits on top of the ladder with a 12-1 record, while Gisborne (3-10) is eighth and staring at the prospect of losing six games in a row for the first time since joining the BFL in 2000.
“I spoke to the boys last night about this match being a really good challenge for us,’’ said Elliott, who is in his second season as Gisborne coach.
“We’re up against it, but this game will give the players a good indication of where they need to aspire to get to.
“It might be intimidating for some of the guys, but I just look at it as a great opportunity to look at where you need to get to.’’
Golden Square will be missing four of its key players today in Jack Geary (ankle), Luke Hammond (hamstring), ruckman David McMeekin (corkie) and Adam Baird (general soreness).
Coming into the squad are Bendigo Bombers-listed James Bristow, who resumes from an ankle injury suffered in round 10, premiership players Luke Rosa, Matt O’Toole and Brayden Dorrington, Bendigo Pioneers-listed Tom Paterson and young ruckman Matthew Compston.
Golden Square last week defeated Sandhurst by 16 points at Country Vet Oval to move a step closer to securing its first top-of-the-ladder finish since its premiership year of 1989.
Gisborne is coming off a 29-point defeat to arch-rival Kyneton last week, which was the Bulldogs’ first loss to the Tigers since 2001 season. Gisborne has made five changes to its side, with Clay Illman, Kane Grbac, Matthew Bouwmeester, Lachlan Crosbie and Jamerson Campbell all out.
Into the side come Aaron Storie, Jason Storie, David Pante, Darcy Rocard and Tim Walsh.
Golden Square has won its past five games against Gisborne by margins of 140, 108, 159, 49 and 25 points.
In those five victories Golden Square has kicked 107 goals to Gisborne’s 34.
Today’s game starts at 2.20pm.
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