The Sydney Swans have named a squad of 27 players for their final NAB Challenge game, against St Kilda at Coffs Harbour this Saturday night.
Speedster Gary Rohan, who was a late withdrawal from the team last week with Achilles soreness, has been ruled fit to play and will take his place in the backline.
Coach John Longmire said the squad was as close to full strength as possible as the team expected a tough hitout against last year’s grand finalists, St Kilda.
Shane Mumford, who returned to the playing field from a knee injury last Saturday night, will get more game time, as will defender Nick Smith, who has also missed a chunk of the pre-season with injury.
Key forward Daniel Bradshaw won’t play but the Swans will still boast a talented forward line, with Adam Goodes, Sam Reid and Jesse White providing the height in attack.
The Swans are likely to try to road test the new interchange rules and will probably elect to play only 24 players on Saturday night.
Longmire said the Swans were fortunate to play against both Collingwood and St Kilda in the NAB Challenge series this year, allowing the players to be tested against the best from 2010.
The Swans Reserves will play another practice match next Saturday March 19, with several senior players who have had a limited pre-season expected to line-up in that game at Lakeside Oval.
While several defenders including Tadhg Kennelly and Nick Malceski are currently on the sidelines, half-back Marty Mattner said the team had plenty of options in defence for the match against St Kilda at BCU International Stadium at 7pm on Saturday night.
“You never want to lose someone like Nick, who can play up forward and play up in the midfield as well, but I guess Andrejs coming to the club this year has been great and he’s probably going to step straight into Mal’s spot,” Mattner said.
Mattner said that while the backline injuries were not ideal, the back six that will take the field have been working well together throughout the entire pre-season.
“The back six that we have now is the back six that we’ve had all throughout the pre-season,” he said.
“As a back six, we’ve gelled pretty well, and I think we’ve come out of it (pre-season) knowing a bit more.
“Andrejs has fitted in really well back there, and Byron has played a bit back there as well, so the guys who are stepping in have played really well as well.”
The squad for Saturday night's match is as follows:
1 SEABY, Mark
2 SHAW, Rhyce
3 McVEIGH, Jarrad
4 HANNEBERY, Daniel
5 O’KEEFE, Ryan
7 MEREDITH, Brett
8 DENNIS-LANE, Trent
12 KENNEDY, Josh
13 EVERITT, Andrejs
14 BIRD, Craig
15 JACK, Kieren
16 ROHAN, Gary
18 WHITE, Jesse
20 REID, Sam
21 McGLYNN, Ben
22 SUMNER, Byron
24 BOLTON, Jude
25 RICHARDS, Ted
29 MATTNER, Martin
32 JETTA, Lewis
33 MOORE, Jarred
37 GOODES, Adam
38 PYKE, Mike
39 GRUNDY, Heath
40 SMITH, Nick
41 MUMFORD, Shane
42 BEVAN, Paul
