MELBOURNE has made just one change for Saturday night’s clash against the Adelaide Crows.
The Demons have recalled midfielder/forward Jay Kennedy-Harris and left out dasher Billy Stretch, who has been named an emergency, along with former co-captain Jack Trengove and young key forward Sam Weideman.
Kennedy-Harris, whose start to the season was interrupted by an arm injury, will play his first game since round seven. It will be his fourth appearance this year. The 22-year-old has been in outstanding form for Casey Demons, notching up a couple of 40-plus disposal performances.
Coach Simon Goodwin said Kennedy-Harris’ efforts for Casey in recent times had earned him a recall.
“[We’ve] got just the one change this week – Jay Kennedy-Harris comes back into the team. He’s done a lot of really strong work in the VFL and has worked really hard on his game,” he told Melbourne TV.
“He’s winning a lot of the ball at VFL level, so he’ll come into the team.
“Out of the team is Billy Stretch, who will be omitted this week, and unfortunately for us we’ve still got a pretty long injury list, but Dom Tyson (knee) and Jack Watts (hamstring) are getting very close to coming back into the team over the coming weeks.”
Goodwin said the club was “looking forward to getting up to the Territory again”.
“It’s nice and warm, and it’s our home game up there. We’re looking forward to playing a quality side in Adelaide,” he said.
“We had a good result against Adelaide, eight weeks’ ago now, and we feel like we’re really prepared in the way we want to go about it. It’s just a matter of going up there and executing what we’re looking for.
“I think it’ll be a really strong result for our footy club, if we can go up there and play really well against a really quality opposition.”
Reflecting on last round, Goodwin said he was proud of the way his team fought hard to gain an eight-point win over Carlton at the MCG.
“Last week was a terrific day for the club. It was a really big week in terms of the build-up, around some of the commentary around our footy club, and the character the boys showed, with a fair few of our personnel out of the team – and also with what had gone on throughout the week, was just outstanding,” he said.
“We probably didn’t play our best footy for a large part of the game, but when the time came, we found a way to get the result and that’s something I’m really proud of with these players.”
The match will start at 7.10pm local time (7.40pm Melbourne).
Melbourne team: round 17
B: Michael Hibberd, Oscar McDonald, Neville Jetta
HB: Bernie Vince, Sam Frost, Josh Wagner
C: Jayden Hunt, Clayton Oliver, Jordan Lewis
HF: Alex Neal-Bullen, Tom McDonald, James Harmes
F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Cam Pedersen
Foll: Max Gawn, Jake Melksham, Christian Petracca
I/C: Dean Kent, Mitch Hannan, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Joel Smith
Emg: Jack Trengove, Billy Stretch, Sam Weideman
In: Kennedy-Harris
Out: Stretch
