Key trio to undergo fitness tests before BFNL grand final

Strathfieldsaye's Riley Clarke (ankle) and Mitch Hallinan (knee) and Gisborne's Scott Walsh (hamstring) are in doubt for the biggest game of the season.

Walsh hasn't played during the finals because of a hamstring complaint suffered late in the home and away season.

The veteran midfielder is the only Gisborne player remaining from the club's last senior grand final appearance in 2012.

It was the same season Walsh won the Michelsen Medal.

The predicted wet weather this week probably won't help Walsh's cause for a recall.

Playing the veteran first-up from a hamstring strain on a shifty surface, with so much at stake, would be a big call for the Gisborne selectors to make.

It would be a bitter pill for Walsh should he miss the grand final.

In the 2012 grand final he suffered a broken femur in the opening seconds of the match.

It was an injury that started a frustrating three years of bad luck for the popular Bulldog.

Clarke and Hallinan suffered injuries in the Storm's second semi-final win over Gisborne.

Clarke was on crutches last week, while Hallinan was walking with a limp at the QEO on Saturday as he watched the preliminary final with his Storm team-mates.

The athletic Clarke kicked two goals in the Storm's qualifying final win over Golden Square and has the ability to play on the wing or at either end of the ground.

Hallinan has arguably been the Storm's best player across the club's first two finals.

He held the BFNL's leading goalkicker Joel Brett to one goal in the qualifying final and then restricted Gisborne forward Josh Kemp to one goal in the second semi.

Strathfieldsaye midfielder Riley Wilson missed the second semi-final because of a knee injury, but he would have played in the preliminary final had the Storm gone down that path.

He is the obvious replacement if one of Clarke or Hallinan aren't fit for the grand final.

If the Storm make two changes, Bendigo Pioneers duo Bode Stevens and Malik Gordon come into the equation.

Stevens played two senior games for the Storm early in the season before playing 11 games for North Melbourne at VFL level.

A big-bodied midfielder at NAB League level with the Pioneers, Stevens could play off half-back or in attack and would be ideally suited to wet conditions.

If Storm co-coaches Darryl Wilson and Shannon Geary want another athletic marking option then Gordon is a chance to play.

The teenager is best known as a forward, but he did play some good footy in defence with the Pioneers this year.

Gisborne could also welcome back a talented teenager from NAB League footy.

Calder Cannons' Rye Penny can play multiple positions and was named in the Victoria Metro under-18 squad earlier this year.

Penny played one senior game for Gisborne this year - the round four win over Maryborough.

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