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Pies tagger unsure if he goes to Dusty

Collingwood utility Levi Greenwood says he will know in the next few days whether he will go up against Richmond's Dustin Martin again in the midfield.

Levi Greenwood is seen during a Collingwood Magpies training
The assumption this week has been Levi Greenwood will tag Dustin Martin on Friday night. (AAP)

Regardless of his assignment, Collingwood utility Levi Greenwood will probably be reacquainted with Richmond star Dustin Martin in the AFL preliminary final.

The immediate assumption this week has been that Greenwood will tag Martin, a match-up that worked to some extent when they last played in round 19.

But the star midfielder went forward in the second half and was influential with three goals as the Tigers kicked clear for a 28-point win.

Martin also showed how lethal he can be around the goals in their qualifying final win over Hawthorn, snapping one of the goals of the year from an impossible angle.

During the past few weeks, Greenwood has gone into defence rather than play through the midfield.

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But even if Collingwood decide not to send him to Martin on Friday night, it's inevitable the Brownlow Medallist will drift forward and they will probably cross paths there.

Greenwood said he would find out on Wednesday or Thursday what job he will have in the preliminary final.

"I'm not even sure if I'm playing on him (Martin). I don't know what we're doing this week," he said.

"If it happens, it happens and I'm sure we'll have a plan for it.

"But at this stage, I was a backman last week and probably will be this week."

Greenwood said that along with the obvious challenges of playing on Martin, the Tigers were excellent at making good use of him around goals.

"For starters, he probably has two inches (height) on me," Greenwood said.

"His teammates kick him the ball in the right spot and they clear out the 50m (area) for him.

"There's no one to come over to help. When you're isolated in the 50 and they have good delivery, it's quite hard to stop anyone."

Greenwood's move out of the midfield is one of the results of Collingwood's shocking run of injuries, which has hurt their defence especially hard.

"We've had a lot of defenders go down this year so being able to fill a spot has been good for my development and I think he's helped the team as well," he said.

"We've handled it really well, we've had a few guys come in and stand up maybe a little bit before their time."


3 min read

Published

Source: AAP


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