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GIVEN he retired last year, it might seem strange for Collingwood supporters to see Paul Licuria playing for the Magpies against Tasmania at North Hobart today.
But the slippery onballer has decided to make cameo appearances for Collingwood's VFL team in a leadership role to a young team.
The first of those games will be the VFL practice match against the Devils in Hobart, starting at noon.
"I had no intention of playing but it's such a young side I felt I had to help out," Licuria said yesterday.
"We've got one player who's 28, and the rest of the playing group has an average age of 19-20."
Licuria will not play the whole season.
"The reason I retired was because my body broke down a fair bit last year," he said.
"So I've just been out there training with the group and I'll play more of a mentoring role.
"I'm not sure how many games I'll play."
Collingwood's team today includes newly appointed senior captain Scott Burns, playing his first game after a back injury, Brodie Holland, Shannon Cox, Ben Johnson, Sean Rusling, Toby Thoolen and Alan Toovey.
Collingwood expects a tough workout from the Tasmanians.
"It's a good chance for both teams to try players in different positions and to try different game plans," Licuria said.
The Devils plan to put some bite into their performance.
"We finished last by a long way last year, so we need to get that Tasmanian competitiveness back into our team," said coach Daryn Cresswell.
"It's not about the win-loss ratio this year.
"We're a very young side and we need to get that spirit back into our side, and hopefully the rest will fall into place."
TEAMS
Tasmania: Street, Savage, Robinson, Vearing, T. Plummer, Koulouriotis, Long, Setchell, Bowden, Cox, Hardy, Charlesworth, Geappen, Bongetti, Thurley, Andrews, Hazell, Gilmour, Langford, Shackleton, Salter, Neville, Cornelius, O'Brien, Bielski, Cassidy.
Collingwood: Burns, Carmody, Casey-Leigh, Colbert, Cox, Crow, Dick, Dyas, Frost, Holland, Jarrah, Johnson, Licuria, McAffer, McDonald, Nicholls, Oldmeadow, Pendlebury, Rusling, Thoolan, Toovey, Hogan. http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0, ... 22,00.html
