He got his way at the AFL tribunal, but West Coast forward Quinten Lynch faces a nervous wait to see if he makes the cut for Saturday night’s semi-final against Collingwood at the MCG.
Lynch was offered a one-match ban for kneeing North Melbourne’s Scott McMahon in the back last week, but was cleared of any wrongdoing after pleading his innocence at the tribunal on Tuesday.
However, the battle for Lynch is far from over, with West Coast coach John Worsfold still weighing up whether he needs his full complement of tall forwards to tackle Collingwood on what is expected to be a dewy night in Melbourne.
Fellow spearheads Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy are certainties to play, while ruckmen Nic Naitanui and Dean Cox offer Worsfold other marking options up forward.
Worsfold opted to drop Lynch for recent games against Collingwood and Hawthorn, but brought the 208-game veteran back for last Sunday’s 96-point elimination final trouncing of North Melbourne.
Lynch made a quiet start to that game, but booted two goals in the final quarter to finish with three for the match from his 14 disposals.
Worsfold was giving little away when asked what structure would best suit his team against the Magpies, and said the absence of suspended Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell wouldn’t influence his decision on Lynch.
“We’re certainly giving good consideration to how we want to play this week in terms of the structure of our forward line,” Worsfold said on Wednesday.
“We’ve got complete faith in that structure (of playing Lynch with Darling and Kennedy).
“We played with that structure pretty much all last year – night games, wet games, and we know it can work.
“It’s a matter of saying, ‘Is that exactly the way we want to go this week?'”
Worsfold also faces a tough selection decision on wingman Matt Rosa, who trained behind closed doors on Wednesday in a bid to prove he had overcome a fractured collarbone suffered less than three weeks ago.
Rosa, who broke his jaw before the collarbone setback, has played just one game since round 18, and Worsfold said the 25-year-old’s lack of match time would also come into consideration as to whether he was given a berth against Collingwood.
Last week’s substitute Jacob Brennan is in line to play a full game as a replacement for injured vice-captain Beau Waters, while Worsfold said Lewis Stevenson, Ash Smith and Mitch Brown were in contention to earn a recall.
West Coast thumped Collingwood by 49 points in round 22, but the Magpies were without ruckman Darren Jolly that day and Worsfold said he was preparing for Nathan Buckley’s charges to be at their absolute best on Saturday.
