Dockers, Roos rest AFL stars as promised

Fremantle and North Melbourne stayed true to their word and stripped their AFL line-ups of star players on Thursday night at the selection table.

The Kangaroos controversially flagged their intention to follow the Dockers’ lead on Thursday morning and rest several key players for the last round of the season.

A defiant Brad Scott dropped a total of nine players – Nick Dal Santo, Jarrad Waite, Michael Firrito, Andrew Swallow, Shaun Higgins, Todd Goldstein, Sam Wright, Ben Cunnington and Scott Thompson – for the Roos’ clash on Friday night with Richmond.

Adding to the intrigue, only Dal Santo, Waite and Goldstein were officially listed as ‘managed’ with the rest listed with various injuries as the reason for their omission.

Fremantle coach Ross Lyon went two better and told 11 players, or half his team, that they wouldn’t have to make the trip to Adelaide to take on Port Adelaide on Saturday, with two of those changes due to injury.

Skipper Matthew Pavlich, Luke McPharlin, Aaron Sandilands, Michael Johnson, David Mundy, Lee Spurr, Danyle Pearce, Stephen Hill and Chris Mayne have all been rested, while Cameron Sutcliffe (shoulder) and Jon Griffin (hamstring) are injured.

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