Collingwood have been strengthened for Friday’s AFL grand final re-match against Geelong by the return of premiership trio Dale Thomas, Darren Jolly and Chris Dawes.
The seventh-placed Magpies also regain forward Alex Fasolo for the MCG blockbuster while Peter Yagmoor, Paul Seedsman and ruckman Cameron Wood have been omitted and Nathan Brown is out with a knee injury.
Geelong get their premiership stars Jimmy Bartel, Matthew Scarlett and Mathew Stokes back from injury while ruckman Orren Stephenson plays his first game since round three.
The 10th-placed Cats left out Allen Christensen (calf) and Tom Gillies (knee) and dropped Billie Smedts and Shannon Byrnes.
North Melbourne have made three changes for Saturday’s trip to AAMI Stadium to play Port Adelaide after Kangaroos’ coach Brad Scott had questioned his players’ work ethic in last week’s loss to Western Bulldogs.
Two of the changes are forced because of injuries to Hamish McIntosh (knee) and Sam Wright (shoulder) while midfielder Liam Anthony has been dropped.
Ben Warren, Levi Greenwood and Nathan Grima have been recalled.
Port are on a six-match losing streak and coach Matt Primus has dropped David Rodan, Tom Logan, Simon Phillips and Daniel Stewart while Aaron Young has an ankle injury.
Matt Thomas, Danyle Pearce, Darren Pfeiffer, Chad Wingard and key forward Jay Schulz have been included.
Hawthorn regain defender Josh Gibson for Saturday’s game against Fremantle in Launceston while Michael Osborne’s season is over because of a knee injury.
Jay Van Berlo returns for the Dockers and Adam McPhee is out with a calf complaint.
Melbourne forward Liam Jurrah, who appeared via a video link in Alice Springs Magistrates Court on Thursday on assault charges related to an alleged machete attack, has been recalled for his first senior game of 2012.
The 23-year-old has played two games in the VFL after recovering from a pre-season wrist injury.
The Demons have also recalled ex-skipper Brad Green, Jack Watts and Sam Blease for Saturday’s game against Sydney at the SCG.
Sydney named Irishman Tommy Walsh for his AFL debut among three changes with Mike Pyke and Lewis Roberts-Thomson returning.
Richmond didn’t recall ruck/forward Ty Vickery and named an unchanged team for Saturday night’s Dreamtime game against Essendon at the MCG as part of the AFL’s indigenous-themed round.
The Bombers regain key forward Michael Hurley for Travis Colyer.
In Saturday’s other game, Western Bulldogs regain Nathan Djerrkura and Liam Jones for their evening clash with Gold Coast in Darwin.
The Suns have made six changes, losing Charlie Dixon (cheekbone) and David Swallow (knee) to injury and dropping four players including Jared Brennan.
Queenslander Alex Sexton, 18, will make his debut.
