BEYOND THE BOUNDARY – MAY 6 – SETH TALBOT (NORTH SHORE)
Colac co-coach Seb Ross will make his first appearance of the season in Saturday’s clash with St Albans after overcoming a calf issue.
The former St Kilda midfielder suffered the injury in the warm-up ahead of the Round 1 meeting with St Mary’s.
The Tigers also welcome back Geelong VFL-listed Hunter Wright, who returns from Young Guns duty, and Jarryn McCormack from injury.
Despite sitting 1-3 after the opening month of the season, with their only win an unconvincing one against Geelong West, co-coach Jason Armistead has stopped short of declaring the meeting with the Supersaints as “must-win”.
“I’m not sure about must-win, but we definitely need to start making a move pretty quickly,” Armistead said.
“This one’s really important for us to just get going.”
As well as welcoming back Ross, Wright and McCormack, Colac will debut Jack Finn, Jack Slater makes his first senior appearance in yellow and black since 2018, and Cooper Forbes has been recalled.
Missing are Brady Hall, who has entered the concussion protocol, and the unavailable pair of Lee Gorwell and Chaise Murray.
Steve Presani will miss at least the next fortnight as he prepares to tackle the Great Ocean Road Marathon next week.
Hamish Darroch will be on Geelong Falcons duty, and Henry Barber will play at midday.
St Albans will be without spearhead Tom Higgins (suspension) and livewire Ethan Guida (toe/calf).
However, Lara recruit Tom Gunther returns from a calf injury suffered in Round 1, and Will Lane’s been recalled.
Leopold will welcome back South Australian recruit Lochie Nash, have recalled Tatura recruit Adam Enever, and promoted Anthony Tanner among three inclusions for a crucial clash with Newtown & Chilwell at Memorial Park.
As reported earlier in the week, premiership pair Kyle Bumpstead (foot) and Riley Stone (broken hand) will be missing, with Cairns recruit Ethan Skene omitted.
The Towners welcome back co-captain Ned Harris, who was a late withdrawal from last week’s win over Grovedale due to illness.
He replaces Charlie Field.
Grovedale will be the beneficiary of Cooper Whyte’s omission from Werribee’s VFL team, with the Tigers making three changes for the clash with Bell Park at Burdoo Reserve.
Recruit Paul Potter will make his senior debut, while Jack Cook has been recalled from the reserves.
Co-captain Rory Quinn is unavailable, while Bradley Kreuger (heel) and Jack Kelly (knee) are facing at least a week on the sidelines.
The Dragons have lost a trio of bigs, with Jacob Nihill (corkie), Ollie Hicks (knee), and Eli Pearce (finger) out of the side that defeated Leopold last week.
Rhys McWaters (quad) will also be missing.
Bannockburn recruit Ayden Osborne will make his debut in green and white.
North Shore will debut under-18 Jamie Beard among six changes for its meeting with Geelong West at Windsor Park.
The Seagulls have also named Bryce Smith, Mark Gudasic, Lachie Vivian, Jaydn Quarrell and Ben Collier.
They replace injured duo Xavier McGowan (ankle) and Jack O’Brien (hamstring), and the unavailable Ethan Huxtable.
Oscar Denny will return to the under-18s, with Jack McQuitty and Bailey Lewis omitted.
The Giants have brought in Declan Fenton as the replacement for Max Pell.
St Joseph’s will take arguably its strongest team of the season into tomorrow night’s match-up with grand final conquerors St Mary’s.
Co-coach James Gow, Harry Smith, Cal Mitchell and Max Adams return, while Jack Mullen will play his first game of the season.
They replace Max McLachlan (ankle), Josh Nurnaitis (suspended), Jai Adams (neck), Tosh Lennon, and Jack Flanagan.
The reigning premier welcomes back Elijah Wales and recruit Josh Sanders, replacing co-captain Jack Blookd (leg) and Nick Dowling.
The Saints will wear black armbands to mark the deaths of women’s player Brittany McLaughlin and former president Rob McCurdy.
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