There were injury updates on Tom Liberatore, Jordan De Goey, Steele Sidebottom and Jason Johanissen, while two more late-season debutants were confirmed.
DEBUTANT ALERT
Collingwood confirmed a debut for 18-year-old defender Jakob Ryan (AF $246k SC $117k DEF), who was pick 28 in the 2022 AFL Draft, who is averaging 19.6 disposals across 14 VFL games.
Magpies coach Craig McRae said: “He has been in great form for a number of weeks now. We’ve had him as emergency a few times. He is a young South Australian lad who will be a crowd favourite with his haircut. It is exciting to give someone an opportunity at this time of year. He gets it through reward, playing above the level at VFL.”
Gold Coast also revealed 18-year-old Category B rookie Lloyd Johnston (AF $200k SC $102k DEF), who comes out of their Darwin Academy, will debut after strong VFL form, averaging 13 disposals and four marks across 16 games.
Suns interim coach Steven King said: “We’ve been so impressed with Lloyd this year, he’s come so far and has developed into a young professional within our football club. His ability to learn, grow and retain information has improved tremendously across the season and he’s been able to improve in all facets of his game. Lloydy has 100 percent earned this opportunity, he’s hungry to play and we can’t wait to see him run out this weekend for the first time with the AFL team.”
UPDATES
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge offered a positive update on Tom Liberatore (AF $875k SC $626k MID) who’ll miss this weekend due to concussion. Beveridge said: “He’s on track. He’s feeling a lot better. We’ll wait and see but we’re hoping he might be available for the last round.”
On Jason Johanissen’s calf issue, he said: “He’ll need to jump through some hoops to be available for that last game he definitely won’t play this week.” He also said Anthony Scott should be available after concussion.
McRae ruled out Jordan De Goey for Collingwood’s Friday night game due to a glute strain. He said: “Unfortunately, we’ll have a few out this week. Obviously Darcy Moore won’t play, Nick Daicos is not playing, Jordy and Bobby Hill won’t play as well.
“We are anticipating that he’ll (De Goey) be right (for next week), but it is a risk vs reward situation. How much do you want to take a risk? If it was a Grand Final we’d be pushing hard for all of them to play, to be honest. We’re not in that situation right now. We’ll look after those guys.”
McRae said Steele Sidebottom (foot) and John Noble (ankle) had been cleared of injuries.
Essendon coach Brad Scott indicated Jye Caldwell should be fine to play after a hip concern but he also offered updates on Jake Stringer (foot), Sam Draper (hip) and Dylan Shiel (foot).
Scott said: “(Stringer) was close (last week). But to my eye it just didn’t look like he was at 100 per cent. He’s better again this week, so he’ll train and we’ll make a determination based on how he looks.”
On Draper, he said: “He’s had a good, long, slow build-up. Assuming he gets through that well and he’s looking like the Sam Draper we know and love, he should play. He’s been pain free for a long time. Now it’s about being able to produce the power output that we know he can produce. We’re expecting him to play, but the caveat is he has to get through training.”
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir confirmed his comments last week about Hayden Young returning to defence were gamesmanship, while he talked up Caleb Serong’s (AF $911k SC $567k MID) season.
Longmuir said: “He’s been outstanding. He’s been consistently our best performer. I think he deserves an All-Australian spot. I don’t think there’s been a more consistent player.”
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