Young unveils new back line mix in trial

The Cherrypickers took a 40-24 win over Gunghalin in their first trial of the season at Alfred Oval on Saturday.

Cornish was pleased with the display which featured a number of changes to their back line positioning from last season.

With halfback Mitch Cornish on the sidelines with a calf complaint, it was Tyler Cornish who took over the role joining Matt Murray in the halves.

However Tyler Cornish is set to shift to five-eighth this season.

As such Nick Cornish has moved himself into the centres with Nic Hall given his shot at fullback.

Centre is a new position for the captain-coach but one he feels will allow for Hall to have a bigger role in the side.

"We think Hally's best position is fullback and he did look good there on the weekend," Cornish said.

"I think he's a bit more excited for the year and Tyler is a really good five-eighth.

"He's played five-eighth for the majority of his life so I'm just filling the spot at centre to see how it goes."

READ MORE

Cornish did return to five-eighth for the second half.

He admitted his shift to centre is one the club will weigh up as the season progresses.

"We don't really know if I will be good or bad there but the worst case scenario if Hally is killing it is I can go back to six and Tyler can go into the centres or we could go back to last year's shape as we know it works," Cornish said.

"It's a bit of a trial and error to try to get Hally a little bit more involved and for Tyler to add a bit more structure to the side."

The Cherrypickers got through the clash with no injury concerns with Cornish particularly pleased with the work of Jake Walker and Aaron Slater through the middle.

Mitch Cornish is expected to be right for round one after picking up the problem at training a week out from the trial.

Young won't trial again until April 9 with Cornish confident the clash with Collegians is well placed for the later Group Nine start.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: