Collingwood has injected a wealth of youth into the side ahead of Sunday’s ANZAC Day match against Essendon at the MCG with Nathan Brown, Ben Reid and Chris Dawes named in the final 22.
Veteran defender Simon Prestigiacomo (groin soreness) will miss through injury while Tarkyn Lockyer and Leigh Brown have been omitted for the blockbuster.
Reid, who made his only senior appearance of 2010 in the round two win over Melbourne, played a strong game down back in the VFL last weekend and will line up against Essendon for the first time in his career.
Also performing well in last week’s VFL win, Brown comes into the side for his first match since round 16 in 2009. Selected with overall pick 10 in the 2006 draft, Brown made a strong impact in his first season of senior football (23 matches in 2008) before suffering a knee injury last year which hampered his progress.
Two strong performances in the VFL have seen Dawes named in the squad for the blockbuster clash. The 193-centimetre big man will look to build on his 10 goals from 10 AFL games across the last two seasons.
Lockyer’s streak of 136 consecutive matches (currently third-most in the AFL) has come to an end as the Magpies will lose 595 combined games of experience from the side that beat Hawthorn by 64-points last Saturday.
Lockyer and Brown are named as emergencies along with Shane O’Bree who racked up 23 disposals and two goals in the VFL.
With the absence of several veterans, midfielder Ben Johnson will carry the mantle as the oldest Magpie to line up on Sunday at age 29.
On Saturday afternoon the VFL Magpies will host their second match of the season at Victoria Park against the Bendigo Bombers. Follow all the action through a live chat on Collingwoodfc.com.au starting from 1.30pm with the match scheduled for a 2pm start (Click here to receive a reminder).
Click here to view the AFL broadcast guide.
Round five
Collingwood v Essendon
Sunday 25 April
MCG, 2.40 pm
Collingwood
B: Heath Shaw, Ben Reid, Ben Johnson
HB: Harry O’Brien, Nick Maxwell, Sharrod Wellingham
C: Luke Ball, Dane Swan, Steele Sidebottom
HF: Josh Fraser, Travis Cloke, Alan Didak
F: Dayne Beams, Paul Medhurst, Leon Davis
Foll: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Dale Thomas
Int: Nathan Brown, Chris Dawes, Brent Macaffer, Alan Toovey
Em: Leigh Brown, Tarkyn Lockyer, Shane O’Bree
In: Nathan Brown, Chris Dawes, Ben Reid
Out: Simon Prestigiacomo (groin soreness), Tarkyn Lockyer, Leigh Brown (omitted)
Essendon?
B: Dustin Fletcher, Tayte Pears, Nathan Lovett-Murray?
HB: Courtenay Dempsey, Cale Hooker, Henry Slattery
?C: Jake Melksham, Jobe Watson, Kyle Reimers?
HF: Brent Stanton, Scott Gumbleton, Ricky Dyson
?F: Jason Winderlich, Michael Hurley, David Hille?
Foll: Patrick Ryder, Andrew Welsh, Travis Colyer
?Int: Angus Monfries, Heath Hocking, Mark McVeigh, David Zaharakis
Emg: Sam Lonergan, Alwyn Davey, Bachar Houli
??In: Stanton, Monfries, McVeigh
Out: Mark Williams (foot), Sam Lonergan, Bachar Houli
