A PAIR of Jacks is set to return to Melbourne’s team for its second NAB Challenge clash against the Western Bulldogs at Eureka Stadium on Saturday.
Jack Watts and Jack Viney have been named in the club’s 29-man squad for the trip to Ballarat, after they missed Melbourne’s opening clash against Fremantle at Fremantle Oval last Thursday.
Manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said Viney was back after a knock in the lead-up to last week’s match.
“Jack Viney is back in the squad this week after a head clash at training,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“Given the timing of the year, we didn’t think he was worth risking in the first game, but he comes back into the team for his first match of the year.”
Mahoney said Watts had been progressing strongly since Melbourne’s pre-season camp at Maroochydore.
“Jack Watts has built up his training and had a really good block of training following our camp on the Sunshine Coast in January,” he said.
“He played our internal practice match two weeks ago and we didn’t risk him in the first game.
“He’ll be brought back for this weekend’s game in Ballarat.”
Looking ahead to the match, Mahoney said it was another important stepping stone towards Melbourne’s home and away season.
“Again, our approach will be to field our most competitive team,” he said.
“We are also keeping an eye on the load management of our players and getting the best [benefits] for round one.”
Squad: Rohan Bail, Daniel Cross, Chris Dawes, Lynden Dunn, Jack Fitzpatrick, Sam Frost, Colin Garland, Jeff Garlett, Max Gawn, Jack Grimes, Jesse Hogan, Mark Jamar, Neville Jetta, Matt Jones, Nathan Jones, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Heritier Lumumba, Tom McDonald, Jordie McKenzie, Viv Michie, Ben Newton, Cameron Pedersen, Christian Salem, Billy Stretch, Jimmy Toumpas, Dom Tyson, Aaron vandenBerg, Jack Viney and Jack Watts
