Lonergan, who has played much of his career as a forward, starred for Geelong in Friday night’s win over Essendon while playing a defensive role on highly-rated Bomber Scott Gumbleton.
“I thought Tom Lonergan played a very good game. He came in for Harles and played his role very well. I thought his opponents didn’t get sighted. He was a very good player for us tonight,” Milburn said after the game.
“He’s had a very good pre-season and every task that has been set he has done it really well. I’d say he’d be in line to take his role.”
Geelong won convincingly in the end, but the match was not without its tension. Essendon had the momentum for much of the second and third quarters and Milburn knows that but for a late charge his side might have lost the game.
“I think the game was pretty even most of the night. They are a very talented side and like to move the ball quickly,” he said.
“They seemed to be getting the ball in close and getting it out and getting it to their forwards pretty quickly' so we’ve just got to play our style of footy and I think contested ball is where they beat us. I think we might have straightened up in the last quarter. We’ve got things to work on but the boys were pretty happy.”
Essendon is one of the AFL’s great unknowns this year following the departures of Adam McPhee, Matthew Lloyd, Andrew Lovett and Scott Lucas but Milburn says they could end up being one of the surprise packets of 2010.
“I think they’ll be very competitive all year. Sides will know when they’ve played them, they’ve got plenty of pace and use the ball very well. They will surprise a lot of teams,” he said.
“I guess the intensity of the game has stepped up a bit from the NAB Cup. It was a good hit-out for us. They played some good footy and we did in patches too. In the end we were just a bit better.”
