Joel Selwood missed out again with a knee niggle, Ben Cavarra got dropped for the Bulldogs, while Luke Beveridge clarified Tim English’s role moving forward and Kyron Hayden’s season was declared over.

TEAM NEWS
Ins: Tory Dickson, Will Hayes, Zach Tuohy, Harry Taylor
Outs: Ben Cavarra, Pat Lipinski, Jordan Clark, Esava Ratugolea (all omitted)

Ben Cavarra (AF $247k SC $165k FWD) was the big casualty when teams were named for Friday’s Bulldogs-Geelong game.

Bradley Close (AF $311k SC $211k MID/FWD) and Jack Steven (AF $646k SC $405k MID/FWD) held their spots for Geelong.

Joel Selwood (AF $501k SC $375k MID) misses again with a knee niggle, but coach Chris Scott said “it’s very minor and we’re confident he’ll play at 100% capacity very soon”.

ENGLISH LOCATION
The role of Tim English (AF $626k SC $489k RUCK) will be worth noting this round, after playing forward a lot last weekend.

Dogs coach Luke Beveridge said: “We’ll keep throwing variations up. It’s very difficult for any sole ruckman to play out a whole year.

“Tim’s done a pretty job with it so we’re looking to give him some relief here and there.”

But don’t expect English to be rested as his only understudy Jordon Sweet (AF $170k SC $123k RUCK) isn’t quite ready for AFL.

Beveridge said: “We’ve got Jordon Sweet who’s not quite ready yet in the background. We want to set him up to succeed and he’s not quite ready to establish himself up as an AFL ruckman yet.”

COLD CATS
Scott provided an update on Nakia Cockatoo (AF $255k SC $148k MID/FWD) and Josh Jenkins (AF $557k SC $371k FWD) who’ve both not played all year.

On Cockatoo, Scott said: “Not this week. We’re excited at the prospect of him coming back but not quite this week… It is getting to the point where Saturday’s match practice is important.”

On Jenkins, Scott said: “He’s very close. He was really held up with a back problem at the start of the year and he’s been a victim of not having consistent second tier games. He’s a live option for us.”

OTHERS
Isaac Quaynor (AF $399k SC $315k DEF) is back and available to play this round after his nasty shin gash.

Pies Football GM Geoff Walsh said: “Completed some training last week and pleasingly he’s available for selection this week. That nasty gash has healed really well.”

North Melbourne confirmed that Kyron Hayden’s (AF $303k SC $248k MID) season is over due to a knee issue.

Kangas Footy GM Brady Rawlings said: “While we were hoping to see him again this year, he hasn’t recovered as quickly as we would’ve liked … he won’t make it back before Round 18 unfortunately.”

TOMORROW
Lots of coaches will speak to the media before we learn about Saturday’s 22s at 6:20pm AEST. Ken Hinkley, David Teague, Stuart Dew, Brett Ratten, Nathan Buckley and Simon Goodwin will all front the press.