PRIZED Port Melbourne recruit Sam Naismith will make his first appearance in the blue and red when the Borough takes on Carlton in Week 3 of the Smithy’s VFL pre-season at IKON Park on Thursday night.

Naismith, the luckless former Sydney ruckman who was a surprise delisting at the end of last year before joining Port, will play his first game since 2021.

He will be up against Carlton ruckman Marc Pittonet, who is desperate to force his way into the Blues’ AFL team for its season opener against Richmond next week.

The Blues have also named key position player Mitch McGovern and forward Jack Martin for their first games of the season, while Josh Honey and Matt Owies will also seek to impress AFL coach Michael Voss.

Carlton has trimmed the squad that played against Collingwood in Week 1 from 33 players to 26.

AFL-listed players Sam Durdin, Matt Kennedy, Lachie O’Brien, Jack Carroll, Lachie Plowman, Paddy Dow, Brodie Kemp, Alex Mirkov, Alex Cincotta, Dom Akuei, Jaxon Binns, Harry Lemmey and Hudson O’Keeffe come out of the team, along with VFL guns Ned Cahill and Ben Ronke.

The Borough has also trimmed their squad from the one that beat Coburg on Saturday.

Star defender Ethan Phillips and recruits Dylan Clarke and Cody Henness have been selected, alongside Naismith. Meanwhile, Paul Hunter, Tom Hofert, Angus Hanrahan and Joel Wilkinson are among seven players to drop out.

Southport will field a mainly under-23 squad in its clash against Palm Beach-Currumbin that has been brought forward from Saturday morning to Thursday night, although star ruckman Fraser Thurlow will make his first appearance since injuring his hamstring in Round 17 last year.

The Sharks have made 19 changes from the team that lost to Brisbane Lions last week, with the key inclusions being Matt Gahan, Daniel Bradshaw’s son Noah, Baxter Mensch, Jye Lockett, Jamison Shea and Tom Reeves.

A whole host of grand final players will rest, plus key recruits Matt Conroy, Ryan Banks-Smith, Jackson Edwards and Matt McGuinness.

CARLTON v PORT MELBOURNE

7:30pm Thursday at Ikon Park

CARLTON
8.Jack Lefroy, 9.Hayden Gill, 10.Lachlan Swaney, 14.Liam McMahon, 16.Mitch McGovern, 17.Callum Verrell, 18.Mitch Moschetti, 20.Jacob Naismith, 21.Jack Martin, 22.Jed Brereton, 23.Blake Kuipers, 24.Archie Stevens, 26.Patrick Dozzi, 27.Marc Pittonet, 28.Aidan Mills, 29.Hamish Sinnott, 30.Michael Lewis, 31.Tyreece Leiu, 32.Girgio Varagiannis, 34.Will White, 36.Josh Honey, 38.Ben Moyle, 41.Luke Parks, 43.Ethan Bentley, 44.Matt Owies, 46.Logan Prout.

IN: Kuipers, Leiu, Martin, McGovern, McMahon, Moyle, Naismith, Owies, Parks, Varagiannis, Verrell.
OUT: D.Akuei, J.Binns, N.Cahill, J.Carroll, A.Cincotta, P.Dow, S.Durdin, S.Grant, B.Kemp, M.Kennedy, H.Lemmey, Z.Maher, A.Mirkov, L.O’Brien, H.O’Keeffe, L.Plowman, H.Ramshaw, B.Ronke.

PORT MELBOURNE
1.Aiden Fyfe, 2.Dylan Clarke, 3.Fraser Rosman, 4.Tom Hird, 5.Nash Holmes, 6.Marcus Lentini, 7.Cody Henness, 8.Charlie Bowes, 12.Harry Stubbings, 13.Sam Naismith, 14.Josh Green, 15.Jesse Cucinotta, 16.Archi Manton, 17.Matt Signorello, 18.Jeremy O’Sullivan, 19.Anthony Anastasio, 24.Tom Cameron, 26.Jake Gasper, 27.Felix Flockart, 29.Campbell Walker, 30.Ethan Phillips, 36.Angus Curry, 37.Harvey Hooper, 39.Jackson Weidemann, 42.Bryce Milford. Emergencies: 11.Nick Burke, 21.Tom Hofert, 25.Angus Hanrahan, 52.Kyle Borg.

IN: Clarke, Henness, Naismith, Phillips.
OUT: K.Borg, J.Cusack, A.Hanrahan, T.Hofert, P.Hunter, J.Johnston, J.Wilkinson.

SOUTHPORT SHARKS v PALM BEACH-CURRUMBIN

7:00pm Thursday at Fankhauser Reserve

SOUTHPORT SHARKS
7.Baxter Mensch, 12.Bowen Calogero, 15.Fraser Thurlow, 16.Joel Edwards, 19.Luke Coombes, 22.Jed Foggo, 24.Charlie Laing, 26.Zach Molloy, 27.Jamison Shea, 28.Fletcher Hooker, 31.Riley Bowman, 32.Matt Gahan, 33.Matt Doran, 34.Ethan Sekac, 35.Byron Finch, 36.Noah Bradshaw, 37.Cooper Anderson, 38.Tom Reeves, 39.Hamilton Howard, 40.Harry Law, 41.Jye Lockett, 42.Jonah Semmler, 43.Hamish Anderson, 44.Sam Banks-Smith.

IN: C.Anderson, H.Anderson, Banks-Smith, Bradshaw, Calogero, Coombes, Edwards, Finch, Gahan, Hamilton, Hooker, Laing, Law, Lockett, Reeves, Sekac, Semmler, Shea, Thurlow.
OUT: R.Banks-Smith, D.Charlesworth, M.Conroy, B.Crossley, J.Dawson, J.Edwards, T.Fields, J.Foon, Z.Foot, J.Heron, C.Joyce, J.Joyce, J.Lockhart, M.McGuinness, C.Offermans, M.Pescud, L.Rhook, M.Spencer, M.Willis, B.Woodcock.