Adelaide has finalised its team to play Geelong at Simonds Stadium.
Out of the squad of 27 are midfielder Rory Sloane, and forwards Ian Callinan and Lewis Johnston. Sloane, who picked up 15 possessions in a half against Fremantle last weekend, has been rested.
Brad Crouch, Tom Lynch and Shaun McKernan will start as substitutes.
On Thursday, Scott Thompson, Brent Reilly, Ben Rutten, Jason Porplyzia and Sam Jacobs were all picked to play their first games of the year. David Mackay, Richard Douglas and Graham Johncock were also been recalled to the squad of 27 after sitting out the trial win over Fremantle.
Defenders Daniel Talia (illness) and Richard Tambling (back) will miss the trip to Geelong. Coach Brenton Sanderson said both players should be fit to take on Carlton in round three of the NAB Cup next Friday night.
“Blinga (Tambling) has a sore back. It’s not a serious injury, but we’re not taking any risks with our players at this time of year,” Sanderson said.
“Talz (Talia) has been battling a virus for the past couple of weeks. He’s still been able to play, but given the travel and time away involved this week we wanted to give him time to recover because he’s such an important player for us.”
Among the players left out this week are young midfielders Jarryd Lyons and Mitch Grigg, defenders Luke Thompson, Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Rory Laird and Kyle Hartigan and ruckman Angus Graham.
“Angus misses out because we can’t play four rucks. We’re going to have a look at Sam Jacobs, Josh Jenkins and Shaun McKernan together and just couldn’t fit ‘Gus’ in,” Sanderson said.
“Luke Thompson’s played the last two games, but we’ve got Ben Rutten back this week and probably feel we have enough coverage there even with Talz out. We’ve been happy with Jarryd Lyons, but he just can’t squeeze into the midfield with Thompson, Douglas and Mackay back.
“Rory Laird’s form has been fantastic, but because he’s a rookie (he can’t play in round one) and we’d prefer to look at Matthew Jaensch and Luke Brown in defence. Cam Ellis-Yolmen has also been good, but he misses out too.
“Those young guys have had a little taste of it in the past two weeks. Now, their challenge is to keep improving and maintain the pressure on the guys in the side.”
The squad will be trimmed to 24 on Saturday, with teams permitted to name three interchange and three substitutes in the second and third rounds of the NAB Cup. Teams will also be limited to 20 interchanges per quarter as part of a pre-season trial of capped interchanges.
The game starts at 2:10pm (SA time) and will be televised live on Fox Footy.
The squad is:
2. Brad Crouch
3. Brent Reilly
4. Josh Jenkins
5. Scott Thompson
7. Nathan van Berlo
8. Lewis Johnston
9. Rory Sloane
10. Matthew Jaensch
11. Matthew Wright
13. Taylor Walker
14. David Mackay
16. Luke Brown
17. Bernie Vince
18. Graham Johncock
22. Andy Otten
24. Sam Jacobs
25. Ben Rutten
26. Richard Douglas
27. Tom Lynch
29. Sam Kerridge
32. Patrick Dangerfield
35. Shaun McKernan
36. Brodie Martin
37. Ian Callinan
40. Jason Porplyzia
43. Aidan Riley
45. Ricky Henderson
