A SPATE of injuries, plus a Tuesday arrival in Darwin have added some challenges to selecting Melbourne’s team for Saturday night’s clash against the Brisbane Lions at TIO Stadium.

Acting general manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said the Demons have taken up an extended squad to the Top End, but have yet to finalise their team for round 17, due to these circumstances.

“We’ve got 25 players up here for our squad for this week,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“Due to going up early, on the Tuesday, this is a larger squad than what we normally take for an away game.

“If it does turn out that a couple of players aren’t going to play, the intention at the moment is to fly them back on Saturday morning to be available to play for Casey on Sunday.”

During Casey’s 56-point loss to Werribee at Avalon Airport Oval last Sunday, Melbourne players David Rodan (hamstring), Joel Macdonald (groin), Neville Jetta (concussion), James Sellar (concussion), Tom Couch (hamstring) and Troy Davis (ribs) all suffered injuries.

Mahoney said with 11 players on Melbourne’s injury list this week, immediate action was needed when assessing this week’s side.   

“Immediately after the Casey game on Sunday, we had to get a good handle on players that played well and also the injury status, particularly on Monday,” he said.

“We had to carefully monitor the players’ progress and we had to think about our squad a lot earlier than usual.”