Cumming injured, GWS confirm debutant, Saints out & Marshall latest, Parish report & Fagan on Zorko

St Kilda confirmed a late change on Friday but it wasn’t Rowan Marshall who was set for a fitness test, while Luke Beveridge offered insight into debutant James O’Donnell’s role and Adam Treloar’s injury.

SUNDAY TEAMS

Ins: Parnell, Caminiti, Fleeton
Outs: Crouch (sub), Murray (inj), Bytel (sub), Gresham (inj), Frampton (inj), Ward (sub), Cumming (inj)
Holds: Rachele, Marshall, Angwin
Possible subs/emergencies: Bytel, Campbell, Begg, Fahey

Isaac Cumming (AF $657k SC $407k DEF) will miss GWS’s game, with the club confirming he had injured his calf during the week, but not disclosing any extent. Toby Greene will miss another week, despite initially being named in the 22, with Josh Fahey sneaking into the emergencies, but Callan Ward has been confirmed as their sub.

Port Adelaide also made a Friday change to their side with Charlie Dixon withdrawn due to a quad strain, with Ollie Lord (AF $220k SC $123k D/F) coming into their 22 as a like-for-like.

DEBUTANT ALERT

GWS confirmed a debut for Cameron Fleeton (AF $200k SC $123k DEF) who went pick 58 in the 2020 AFL Draft and is a 192cm medium/tall defender, left footer. He had 31 disposals and 10 marks in the VFL last weekend playing in the backline and has averaged 24 disposals in six VFL games this year.

UPDATES

There was also an unconfirmed report from afl.com.au’s Callum Twomey on Darcy Parish (AF $914k SC $567k MID) being sidelined for a month, after calf tightness in training on Thursday saw him ruled out of this weekend’s Round 9 game.

There’s been injury clouds hovering over St Kilda pair Rowan Marshall (AF $950k SC $570k RUC) and Jade Gresham after picking up knocks last week, with both set for fitness tests on Friday ahead of Sunday’s game in Adelaide.

The Saints declared Gresham was a late withdrawal on Friday, replaced by Leo Connolly, with their final team to be confirmed at 5pm AEST. St Kilda said: “Jade Gresham has been replaced by Leo Connolly in Sunday’s squad after failing a fitness test this morning.” No announcement was made on Marshall who has an ankle knock.

Dayne Zorko (AF $718k SC $464k M/F) was a surprise inclusion on Thursday by Brisbane after only one week out with a hamstring injury. Lions coach Chris Fagan said: “I was a little bit surprised. In my own mind, I didn’t think he’d be playing this week. And then he was out there at training on Tuesday running around at 100 miles an hour. I thought ‘oh, maybe he’s a chance’.  Yesterday he was probably best on track, running at high speeds, doing every bit of training, so I couldn’t not pick him.”

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge wouldn’t be overly drawn on debutant James O’Donnell (AF $200k SC $102k DEF) but declared he won’t go head-to-head on one of Carlton’s gun forwards. Beveridge said: “That’s the beauty of him. He’s pretty versatile… It’s a bit too much to ask in his first game to play on either of those two (Curnow or McKay). That’s not for him tomorrow.”

Beveridge said Josh Bruce would be likely to play in Round 10, potentially impacting O’Donnell’s job security, while he said Jamarra Ugle-Hagan came through Thursday’s main session with “flying colours” having been under an injury cloud.

On Adam Treloar’s (AF $841k SC $535k MID) hamstring injury, Beveridge said: “We’re hoping it’s only this one and at the most another couple. That’d be the best result we can hope for. He’s amazing, he copes with some things at times that hold him back a little bit but he manages to still be a very influential player. Adam out is going to be a loss. He’s been having a terrific year.”

Collinwood skipper Darcy Moore missed training on Friday with an infection in his elbow an Pies coach Craig McRae said they’d make a decisions in the next 24 hours but expected him to be fit to play. Trey Ruscoe looms as his likely replacement.

Young ruck Aiden Begg (AF $306k SC $187k F/R) was named in the Pies’ 26 with Billy Frampton out. McRae said: “We’re about to go to match committee and decide what we do. His name is in the squad. I like setting people up to succeed and he’s played one games in seven weeks.”