The Melbourne Football Club has named a youthful squad for Sunday's season opener against North Melbourne, with the possibility of up to four debutants being included in the lineup.
Jake Spencer will make his AFL debut after being named in the ruck. Jamie Bennell, Neville Jetta and Kyle Cheney have all been named in the preliminary squad, and could make their debuts at the MCG on Sunday. The Demons will have to trim their team to 22 men when final selection takes place at 5:00 pm on Friday.
James McDonald will lead the team out for his first time as skipper, capping off a remarkable journey of coming from the Club's rookie list in 1997 to captaining the oldest club in the land in Season 2009.
Midfielders Brock McLean and Brent Moloney will make their returns to football after missing the second half of last year due to injures.
Melbourne’s defensive stocks have also been bolstered by the inclusion of Jared Rivers, who returns to football after enduring a wretched two year stint with a groin injury. Rivers only managed nine games over that period, but is now ready to regain his spot as a crucial link in Melbourne’s defensive chain.
The Demons will name the final team of 22 tomorrow at 5:00 pm - stay tuned to melbournefc.com.au for full details.
The last time these two teams met at the MCG was back in Round 17, 2008, with the Demons going down by 28 points.
Round One Squad
B: J.Rivers, M.Warnock, C.Bartram
HB: C.Garland, J.Frawley, B.Green
C:A.Davey, B.McLean, B.Moloney
HF:C.Bruce, P.Johnson, C.Morton
FB: Miller, M.Bate, R.Petterd
Foll: J.Spencer, J.McDonald, S.Buckley
I/C From: J.Bennell, K.Cheney, N.Jones, N.Jetta, S.Martin, L.Dunn, J.Meesen
