Braydon Preuss and Zak Butters’ omissions were explained, while rookie Jackson Archer has been ruled out for his second game with North Melbourne and Port Adelaide have confirmed a debutant.
DEBUTANT ALERT
Port Adelaide have confirmed Jase Burgoyne (AF $190k SC $117k D/M) will debut. He went pick 60 in the 2021 AFL Draft and is averaging 20.1 disposals and 2.7 tackles per game in the 2022 SANFL season.
SUNDAY TEAMS
Luke Jackson (AF $586k SC $396k F/R) remains in Melbourne’s selected 22 amid talk of a knee injury with nothing official coming from the club ahead of Saturday’s game in Adelaide. There have been reports he wasn’t on the team flight on Friday afternoon.
UPDATES
Zak Butters (AF $614k SC $471k M/F) was left out of Port’s side for their game with Fremantle on Sunday due to a knee issue.
Port footy boss Chris Davies said: “Buttsy earlier in the week just struggled with a bit of change of direction. Reality is he wasn’t ready to come up this week, we’re hopeful of next week but he’s going to have to do a little bit of training between now and then.”
GWS caretaker coach Mark McVeigh has explained why Braydon Preuss (AF $657k SC $444k RUC) missed out on selection this week despite being available after suspension.
McVeigh said: “His last six weeks, he’s had no continuity. He came in off some good training, one VFL game, only lasted a quarter. Not being able to train well after that. His foot did linger on. He’s available at VFL level. It’s just a big risk… We’re desperate to get him in, it’s a bit frustrating.”
Harry Himmelberg (AF $741k SC $548k FWD) still isn’t assured of his role in defence. When asked about Nick Haynes playing forward, allowing Himmelberg back, McVeigh said: “Potentially. We had a look at that at training. We still think Harry Himmelberg can play a role there as well. We haven’t settled on that at the moment.”
Jackson Archer (AF $208k SC $117k DEF) will miss North Melbourne’s game with Geelong due to a hip injury.
Ben Hobbs (AF $508k SC $333k M/F) earned a reprieve after being dropped by Essendon, coming back into the 22 with Archie Perkins out with a calf injury.
Matt Crouch (AF $697k SC $429k MID) pressed his case for a recall with 42 disposals in the SANFL but was named one of four emergencies. Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks said: “Really impressed with Matty on the weekend. Went away and worked on some areas we’ve been talking about. Matty at his best is in our team. We’re just trying to get him back to his best.”
There was talk of a debut for Tariek Newchurch (AF $190k SC $123k FWD) but he’ll have to wait. Nicks said: “I know there’s a fair bit of noise around getting Tariek into the side and that’s warranted. We want to make sure he’s ready… We want to get that (team) balance right as well.”
