Collingwood coach Craig McRae offered some insight into Darcy Cameron’s probable return from injury, potentially as sub, while Alex Cincotta and Jack Steele were the main news from the Sunday teams.
SUNDAY TEAMS
Key ins: Chesser, N.Long, T.Greene
Key outs: Cincotta, G.Hewett, Bytel
Key holds: Weddle, S.Mitchell, M.Kennedy, Hollands, Angwin, Fleeton, Stocker, Steele
Confirmed subs: G.Hewett (means Cincotta won’t be sub), Ward (means Fahey won’t be sub)
Emergencies/possible subs: F.Greene, E.Hewett, D.Cameron, Bytel
Alex Cincotta has been omitted by Carlton and won’t play, with George Hewett confirmed as their sub. Josh Fahey also won’t debut for GWS, missing the 22, with Callan Ward confirmed their sub.
Jack Steele (AF $883k SC $527k MID) has been named in St Kilda’s 22 and declared fit by the Saints, who wrote: “Steele has been declared fit to play following a medial strain from last weekend’s match against Adelaide. Steele completed a fitness test this morning to ensure his availability against his former side.”
UPDATES
Collingwood coach Craig McRae revealed Darcy Cameron (AF $719k SC $494k F/R) may be used as sub or start with a view to being subbed out in Sunday’s game against Carlton. Cameron hasn’t played since Round 3 due to a knee injury. He has since been named as one of Collingwood’s four emergencies.
McRae said: “We’ll name him in our 23, what that looks like, I’m not sure yet. We’ll work through that at match committee, weighing up whether he’s done enough work, start with him on ground, we may potentially sub him, we’ll wait and see… We’ll weigh what Darcy has done in terms of load, whether we start him or we may sub him.”
Ash Johnson and Jack Ginnivan also missed training on Friday due to illness and McRae said they’d likely make a decision on them over the weekend, rather than with the Friday teams. Potential debutant Harvey Harrison is among those on Collingwood’s extended bench.
Stand-in North Melbourne coach Brett Ratten confirmed the role of debutant George Wardlaw (AF $294k SC $193k MID) would be midfield with Luke Davies-Uniacke and Cam Zurhaar out, and discussed his strengths. He said: “Yeah he does (come into the midfield mix). You don’t have to say much (to him), he’s very competitive and driven. His ability to win the ball, what he’s shown at VFL level, whether he wins the ball or doesn’t win the ball, his ability to chase, tackle, pressure and then hunt the footy has been showcased at VFL level. The good thing is we’ll get to see it tomorrow at AFL level. This will be the first of many games.”
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick spoke about the likely role of Samson Ryan (AF $452k SC $339k F/R) with number one ruck Toby Nankervis back in the side. Hardwick said: “We probably see Nank predominantly as a ruck but he’ll be on a limited gametime. We also want to develop Samson in that space as well. We see him more as a key position/ruck. But things change.”
Hardwick also said he expects Jacob Hopper to miss “4-6 weeks”, having been listed as “medium term” in the club’s injury report.
West Coast have more availability issues, with Luke Edwards withdrawing from their Round 10 team due to illness, with Elijah Hewett coming into their 26, with the final 22 to be confirmed at 5pm AEST.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson confirmed Campbell Chesser (AF $237k SC $132k D/M), who was named on an extended bench for Sunday’s game away to Hawthorn, will play after injury.
Simpson said: “Young (Noah) Long is available, Chesser will play seniors this week as well… They’re fit, but if we had a choice with some of these younger guys, we’d like to give them some form at WAFL level, but there’s no game and the availability is a bit light. Some of these kids will play.”
When asked if Chesser will be sub, Simpson said: “We’ll work through that but probably not (sub).”
