MELBOURNE has made no changes to its side for Sunday’s clash against the West Coast Eagles at the MCG.
The Demons have named pacy trio Sam Blease, Dean Kent and Michael Evans as their emergencies, after they were initially included in the 25-man squad on Thursday night.
Forward Shannon Byrnes, midfielder Matt Jones, first-year Demon Jay Kennedy-Harris and ex-Docker Viv Michie have been named on Melbourne’s interchange.
Although the Demons went down to St Kilda by 17 points in round one, manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said they were pleased with their team last week.
“Overall, we were happy with the effort and some of the key statistics to come from last weekend’s game [against St Kilda],” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“But we are in a very similar position to last week, with a lack of tall players available to play in key positions.”
Ruckman/forward Max Gawn, who was flagged as a likely inclusion earlier in the week, was not selected due to hamstring soreness.
“Max Gawn had some good form at Casey over the last few weeks, but following training he pulled up a bit sore in his hamstring and we won’t be risking him for this week’s game,” Mahoney said.
The Demons will be aiming to notch up their first win of the season and end a five-game losing streak against the Eagles.
It will also be Melbourne’s first home game of the season at the MCG. The match starts at 3.20pm.
Melbourne squad: round two
B: Lynden Dunn, James Frawley, Alex Georgiou
HB: Jack Grimes, Tom McDonald, Dean Terlich
C: Jack Trengove, Dom Tyson, Daniel Cross
HF: Jack Watts, Cam Pedersen, Jimmy Toumpas
F: Jeremy Howe, Jack Fitzpatrick, Rohan Bail
FOLL: Jake Spencer, Nathan Jones, Bernie Vince
I/C: Shannon Byrnes, Matt Jones, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Viv Michie
EMG: Dean Kent, Michael Evans, Sam Blease
No change
