COLLINGWOOD has resisted the urge to boost its tall forward stocks for its clash against Carlton on Thursday night, while the Blues have again left out George Hewett among three changes.
The Magpies have brought in Will Hayes and Ed Allan for injured pair Steele Sidebottom (hip) and Jordan De Goey (concussion), while key forward Jack Buller has again been overlooked.
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The Blues have three expected inclusions, with Will Hayward back from suspension and Jacob Weitering and Harry Dean returning after passing through concussion protocols.
Wade Derksen, Jordan Boyd and Hudson O'Keeffe have all been omitted.
There is again no room for 2025 best-and-fairest winner Hewett, who has been left off the emergencies list after being dropped last week.
Collingwood has named veteran Jeremy Howe at full-back, although coach Craig McRae flagged this week the high flyer could be deployed forward as the Magpies aim to solve their scoring issues.
The 13th-placed Magpies rank second-last for points scored this season, averaging just 69.6 points per game - down from 85.6 last year.
"I'm open-minded to all sorts of things," McRae said on Tuesday.
"We'll just have to wait and see what that looks like (because) we might not have enough troops down back to support that.
"But we might train (Howe) there over the next few weeks (in case) we need to throw him forward - or when Darcy (Moore) is back he might play there a bit more permanently."
THURSDAY, APRIL 16
Carlton v Collingwood at the MCG, 7.30pm AEST
CARLTON
In: J.Weitering, W.Hayward, H.Dean
Out: W.Derksen (omitted), J.Boyd (omitted), H.O'Keeffe (omitted)
COLLINGWOOD
In: E.Allan, W.Hayes
Out: S.Sidebottom (hip), J.De Goey (concussion)
