PROMOTED rookie Viv Michie has earned his call-up to the Melbourne side after some outstanding VFL form, according to coach Paul Roos.
Roos said the ball-winner had been one of Casey’s best players this year and deserved his elevation for Melbourne’s round seven side, which plays Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.
“He’s doing a lot of work off the field – a lot of extra stuff,” he said on Roos’ Views.
“We gave him a slightly different role the last two or three weeks off half-back and he’s done that really well.
“I thought he was the standout player in our VFL team last week, so he gets the reward, which is fantastic.”
With Michie among four changes for Melbourne this round – Colin Garland, Clayton Oliver and Billy Stretch have also come into the team – Roos said it was an unusual situation having three players unavailable, due to concussion this week.
Christian Salem and Heritier Lumumba are out for Melbourne and Angus Brayshaw is also sidelined, after suffering concussion playing for Casey last weekend. He copped a footy in the back of the head, accidentally from teammate Alex Neal-Bullen.
“It’s a very topical thing at the moment – the concussion,” Roos said.
“Players are a lot more aware of it and the doctors and medical staff are a lot aware of it as well, in terms of the responses and what happens during the week and they monitor players.
“Hindsight is always good, but ‘H’ probably shouldn’t have played last week. He was fine and passed all the tests, but didn’t feel great, but we’ll give him a rest this week and we’ll give Salo (Salem) and rest.
“Gus got a knock on the noggin with a footy, so that didn’t help him.”
Roos said key talls Sam Frost and Lynden Dunn were out of the side for a couple of reasons.
“Frosty’s [out due to] a little bit of form, but we also wanted to go with one extra ruck this week,” he said.
“We just wanted to get another runner through the midfield and a small forward as well, which is going to help us up there at Metricon [Stadium].
“Col’s a different type to Dunny, who can play on talls, smalls and mediums, so that versatility should help us as well.”
Meanwhile, key forward Chris Dawes is set to play his first match this year for Casey.
“We’ve monitored him closely and he’s been doing quite a bit of training,” Roos said.
“With Dawesy, we just want to make sure he’s comfortable and the medical staff [should] tick him off, so in all likelihood he should get a game this week.”
