MELBOURNE has added six players to its squad ahead of Sunday’s round eight match against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.
Jesse Hogan returns to the starting lineup after he was rested in round seven, while Jack Watts has been named at half forward.
Jack Fitzpatrick, Max Gawn, Aidan Riley and Ben Newton also come into the squad and have been named on an extended interchange.
Christian Salem (hamstring) and Chris Dawes (calf) will miss the match through injury, while midfielder Viv Michie has been omitted.
Manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said Hogan, as a young player, would be managed throughout the year.
“We made the decision to rest Jesse from the Hawthorn game but he’s fit and ready to go for this week against the Bulldogs,” Mahoney told melbournefc.com.au.
“The plan at the start of the year for all first year players is to give them some breaks through the year, whether that’s through training or through games.
“With a bye now five games away, hopefully Jesse can get through to the bye and then have another break and then we can reassess from there.”
Watts returns to the side after he collected 24 possessions and kicked a goal in Casey’s loss to Port Melbourne last week.
“We were really keen for Jack to go back to Casey and go and get his hands on the football and win some of his own footy, which he was able to do,” Mahoney said.
“We’re happy to bring him back into the side this week after he found the ball [close to] 25 times.
“He did what we wanted him to do last week, which is find the ball and get the balance right between contested and uncontested possessions.”
Salem is set to be sidelined for three to four weeks with a hamstring injury, while Dawes will miss the match as he works to recover from a calf issue.
“Dawesy’s been managing a slight calf complaint and it’s been limiting what he’s been able to do on game day,” Mahoney said.
“The decision was made that until he gets on top of that complaint, he won’t be able to perform at the level we want him to perform at.
“So we decided to give him time to get that right and then bring him back into the team when he’s fully fit.”
Melbourne will name its finalised team on Friday, with three players to be omitted from the extended interchange.
Melbourne team: round eight
B: Colin Garland, Tom McDonald, Jack Grimes
HB: Jeremy Howe, Lynden Dunn, Heritier Lumumba
C: Daniel Cross, Nathan Jones, Matt Jones
HF: Angus Brayshaw, Cameron Pedersen, Jack Watts
F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Aaron vandenBerg
FOLL: Jake Spencer, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince
I/C (from): Jimmy Toumpas, Max Gawn, Billy Stretch, Ben Newton, Aidan Riley, Rohan Bail, Jack Fitzpatrick
IN: Jack Fitzpatrick, Jack Watts, Max Gawn, Aidan Riley, Ben Newton, Jesse Hogan
OUT: Chris Dawes (calf), Viv Michie (omitted), Christian Salem (hamstring)
