Five new Demons to play
After a busy off-season, Melbourne is set to unveil a number of its new recruits this weekend.
“We are excited to see some new faces in the team on Saturday against the Crows,” General Manager of Football Operations Josh Mahoney told Melbourne Media.
“Experienced trio Adam Tomlinson, Ed Langdon and Mitch Brown will all play, as well as new draftees Luke Jackson and Kysiah Pickett.”
Uncapped duo Toby Bedford and James Jordon have been named as emergencies for the match.
Player management
With one eye turned to Round 1, the Demons will be tactical about how they manage their players over the coming weeks.
“We want to play our strongest sides available at the time for each of our two games during the 2020 Marsh Series,” Mahoney said.
“We will be using practice matches or match play at training between those games to give additional game time to those as required.
“In general, we would like each player to play two-to-three games over the five-week period which started with an intra-club last week.”
BURGESS OUTLINES MANAGEMENT PLANS FOR PRE-SEASON GAMES
Injury update
While Harley Bennell (calf), Kade Kolodjashnij (concussion), Aaron Nietschke (knee) and Braydon Preuss (knee) will all be sidelined for an extended period of time, some other Dees will be looking to return prior to Round 1.
“There are a number of players who will not play this weekend that we will see in the next two-to-three weeks,” Mahoney said.
“We expect Angus Brayshaw to be available next week following his elbow injury and both Steven May and Max Gawn are to be considered for our second Marsh Series game against Hawthorn in two weeks.”
Kade Chandler (wrist), Kyle Dunkley (heel), Mitch Hannan (groin), Harry Petty (groin) and Corey Wagner (knee) are among the names expected to be available at different stages during the pre-season period.
Oppo watch
Adelaide will be playing its first game under new coach Matthew Nicks this weekend, with a number of players to represent the club for the first time.
Ben Crocker, Billy Frampton and Ben Keays will all be playing for the Crows after joining the club during last year’s trade period.
Look out for
It’s an exciting time for Aaron vandenBerg and Joel Smith who will both be playing for the first time in 12 months.
The pair went down with respective injuries at Casey Fields last pre-season but will be welcomed back into the side.
Match info
Head down to Casey Fields on Saturday afternoon to see the boys in action from 4:40pm.
Melbourne will also be playing a practice match against Essendon on Friday afternoon which will be open to the public.
This Demons team will include those players not named in Melbourne’s final side for Saturday, and filled with members from the Casey Demons squad.
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