Melbourne have recalled midfielder/forward Jay Kennedy-Harris for Saturday night’s clash with Adelaide in Darwin.

Kennedy-Harris will play his fourth AFL game of 2017; his first appearance since round seven on the back of impressive VFL form.

Billy Stretch has been omitted, while Dom Tyson and Jack Watts were ruled out by coach Simon Goodwin earlier on Thursday.

“Just the one change this week. Jay Kennedy-Harris comes back into the team. He’s done a lot of really strong work in the VFL and has worked really hard on his game,” Goodwin told the club’s website. 

“He’s winning a lot of the ball at VFL level, so he’ll come into the team.

“Out of the team is Billy Stretch, who will be omitted this week, and unfortunately for us we’ve still got a pretty long injury list, but Dom Tyson (knee) and Jack Watts (hamstring) are getting very close to coming back into the team over the coming weeks.”

Melbourne’s AFL team is:

B: Michael Hibberd, Oscar McDonald, Neville Jetta
HB: Bernie Vince, Sam Frost, Josh Wagner
C: Jayden Hunt, Clayton Oliver, Jordan Lewis
HF: Alex Neal-Bullen, Tom McDonald, James Harmes
F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Cam Pedersen
R: Max Gawn, Jake Melksham, Christian Petracca
INT: Dean Kent, Mitch Hannan, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Joel Smith

EMER: Jack Trengove, Billy Stretch, Sam Weideman