NORTH Melbourne’s chances of reversing the 106-point thumping by Geelong in last year’s finals series have suffered a huge blow with news that their two most dangerous forwards will miss Friday night’s clash at Telstra Dome.
Nathan Thompson (knee) and Corey Jones (ankle) will both been sidelined for the blockbuster against the Cats, while Shannon Watt has been omitted.
Into Dean Laidley’s side comes Ben Davies, big man Leigh Brown and former Geelong VFL star Scott Thompson.
On the flip side, Geelong could field its strongest team of 2008 with premiership duo Cameron Mooney and Paul Chapman both selected to tackle the Kangaroos.
Mooney (shoulder) and Chapman (hamstring) both missed last week’s big win over Carlton but have been picked for the round 11 clash.
Young forward Tom Hawkins, who has been struggling for form in recent weeks, has been dropped while tall defender Harry Taylor, perhaps a victim of team balance, is an unlucky omission.
Richmond has made three changes to the side that was belted by 82 points by the Sydney Swans last week.
Graham Polak, Luke McGuane and Greg Tivendale come into the Tigers’ side for Saturday’s clash with the Adelaide Crows at the MCG.
Skipper Kane Johnson will miss with his knee injury, while Jack Riewoldt and Chris Hyde have both been dropped.
Adelaide’s ruck stocks have taken a hit with No.1 big man Jonathon Griffin ruled out of the side to face Richmond with a hip injury.
He joins the suspended Brett Burton on the sidelines with Ken McGregor and Luke Jericho drafted into the side to replace the duo.
Nick Gill, Andy Otten and Bryce Campbell are the emergencies.
Adam Hunter will make a surprise return for West Coast in Saturday night’s home match against the Sydney Swans.
The important defender has been missing from the line-up since round six when he damaged a posterior cruciate ligament and was expected to miss at least another two weeks with the injury.
His return is timely given the high injury toll coming out of last week’s 100-point thrashing by Collingwood.
Four players – Brad Ebert (ankle), Will Schofield (thigh), Josh Kennedy (ankle) and Matt Rosa (ankle) – drop out, while Beau Waters is suspended. Steven Armstrong and Ben McKinley have been dropped and are emergencies along with Mark Le Cras.
Joining Hunter in the team are Sam Butler, Ryan Davis, Jaymie Graham, Mark Seaby, Mark Nicoski and Chris Masten.
The Sydney Swans have made just one change to the side that spanked the Tigers with Ed Barlow in for Craig Bird.
Bird, Luke Brennan and Nick Smith are the emergencies.
Essendon has made just one change for Saturday night’s grudge match with Hawthorn at Telstra Dome.
Big man Jason Laycock returns to support David Hille, while hard-at-it youngster Tom Hislop will be forced to miss the clash with a shoulder injury.
Experienced pair Mal Michael and Adam Ramanauskas have been named as emergencies.
Hawthorn will regain one gun midfielder but lose another, with Brad Sewell out for Luke Hodge.
Hodge returns for his first game since tearing his hamstring against Collingwood, while Sewell (shoulder) will rest after appearing hampered during his most recent outing against the Bulldogs.
Alastair Clarkson made one other change, with tall forward Tim Boyle coming into the side at the expense of Tom Murphy.
The Brisbane Lions have been forced to make two changes to the side that comfortably accounted for North Melbourne last week, with Jason Roe and Ashley McGrath to both miss this week with hamstring injuries.
The Lions must bring in two players to replace the injured duo but have included five players in their preliminary squad, which will be further trimmed on Friday.
Included on the seven-man interchange are James Polkinghorne, Robert Copeland, Cheynee Stiller, Matthew Leuenberger and potential debutant James Hawksley.
Hawksley, 19, is a lightly-built running player and was the No.38 pick in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft.
Despite another last-quarter fadeout, Fremantle coach Mark Harvey hasn’t been too lethal at the selection table just yet.
Freo has only made one change so far, with Paul Duffield out of the 25-man squad.
Peter Bell is a welcome return while Mark Johnson, Robert Warnock and Josh Head will all hope to make the final 22 when Harvey finalises his side on Friday evening.
Callan Ward will make his debut for the Western Bulldogs while Andrejs Everitt could also play his first match for the season, despite Rodney Eade’s side losing two key figures behind their 2008 surge.
Ward, the No.19 pick in last year’s NAB AFL Draft, has been selected on a wing for his first match but has the ability to play at either end of the ground.
Everitt has been named on a seven-man interchange bench for the Bulldogs, along with fellow inclusions Jarrod Harbrow, Josh Hill and big man Peter Street.
Out of the side go Robert Murphy (suspension) while Tim Callan will miss with a hamstring injury.
St Kilda may go into Sunday’s clash with the Bulldogs with an unnamed line-up, merely adding three players to the 22 which thumped Melbourne last week.
Leigh Fisher, James Gwilt and Aaron Fiora have all been added to the Saints’ bench for what may be the match of the round.
Port Adelaide has regained Dominic Cassisi for Sunday’s twilight home clash against the Blues.
The important onballer goes straight into the starting 18 with Greg Bentley and Damon White named on an extended bench.
Carlton loses defender Paul Bower for up to eight weeks with a shoulder injury, but Jarrad Waite will resume after serving a one-match ban.
Former Crow Darren Pfeiffer, Jake Edwards and Mark Austin have been added to a seven-man bench.
Melbourne will make at least three changes ahead of the Queen’s Birthday encounter with the Magpies.
Russell Robertson (achilles), Daniel Bell (omitted) and Simon Buckley (omitted) all come out of the team thumped by the Saints last week, but Cale Morton has recovered from the flu and slots straight back into the starting 18.
Jared Rivers, Jace Bode, Nathan Carroll, Mark Jamar and Chris Johnson have been named on a seven-man bench.
Anthony Rocca returns to the Collingwood goal front after missing one week with an ankle sprain. Ryan Cook and Ben Reid have been added to an extended bench for what will be Leon Davis’ 150th AFL match.
