Two of the Melbourne Football Club’s 2006 National Draft picks will make their senior debut this Saturday night, when Melbourne takes on Sydney in the Anzac Round match at the SCG. The prize for the win in this game will be the Barassi Cup, won in the past three seasons by Melbourne despite being distant from their home turf.

Ricky Petterd, who is still just 18, was selected at Pick 30 in the National Draft. Originally from Broadbeach in Queensland, he was the winner of the 2006 Harrison Medal, awarded to the best player in Division Two at the NAB AFL Under 18 Championships. Described as a player who ‘has great courage, uses the ball well’ (AFL 2007), Petterd will be wearing No. 15, graced by luminaries over the years such as George Haines, Ron Baggott, Athol Webb, Stan Alves and Paul Hopgood.

Debuting alongside Petterd, Colin Garland will be marking his nineteenth birthday at the same time as he plays his first game. He will be wearing the No. 20 guernsey, most recently worn by Matthew Febey and the late Troy Broadbridge. Melbourne’s Pick 46 in the National Draft, Garland’s connection to the Club colours is already a strong one, as he originally hails from North Hobart, known as the ‘Demons’, whose players wear red and blue. He ‘stepped up late in the 2006 season to play some eye-catching games for the Tassie Mariners’ (AFL 2007), and just months later, will be making his senior debut in one of the most prominent rounds of the AFL home and away season.