Dean Rioli has been a surprise inclusion for Essendon. He missed last weekend’s match with a back injury but has progressed well during the course of the week. Nathan Lovett-Murray also returns for the Bombers having recovered from hamstring tightness.
Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy hinted that Cartledge would debut at a press conference yesterday. ""Cartledge would be the only person that we would consider to bring in (to debut) … He's been in pretty good form and he's improving a hell of a lot,"" Sheedy said. ""He's really come on in the last sort of six weeks and has shown a enormous amount of benefit from playing in the practice matches.""
The selectors weren’t in a forgiving mood following Essendon’s lacklustre second-half last week. Brent Stanton – one of Essendon’s best performers during the pre-season – was dumped from the side along with Ben Haynes and Marc Bullen. Allan has knee soreness and will miss tomorrow night’s game.
The Essendon team is:
Backs: Ramanuaskas Fletcher Welsh
Half Backs: M. Johnson Bradley Lovett-Murray
Centres: McVeigh J. Johnson Solomon
Half forwards: Hird Henneman Murphy
Forwards: Cupido Lucas Peverill
Rucks: Cartledge McPhee Bolton
Bench: Zantuck Winderlich Monfries Rioli
Emergencies: Alvey Stanton Lovett
Out: Allan (Injured), Haynes, Bullen, Stanton (omitted)
In: Zantuck, Cartledge, Rioli, Lovett-Murray
