Geelong will blood its fourth debutant for the season with local Jack Henry plucked from the clouds to face Hawthorn on Easter Monday, while superstar Patrick Dangerfield and athletic tall Rhys Stanley have also been confirmed as ins.
The second-year utility, who still lives a drop punt away from GMHBA Stadium and played juniors for the adjacent St Mary's, will line-up in the Cats' biggest home-and-away fixture for the season.
Speedster Jordan Murdoch and ruckman Zac Smith have been dropped while backman Harry Taylor will miss with a foot injury.
Meanwhile, the Hawks are unchanged, with talented youngster Ryan Burton overcoming a left ankle injury.
"Start of the pre-season we didn't envisage him (Henry) playing round two," coach Chris Scott said on Saturday.
"But we didn't envisage (round one debutants) Tim Kelly, (Esava) Ratugolea or (Lachlan) Fogarty playing either with pretty good availability.
"It's not a matter of pushing in another debutant because we just want to play the young guys, he's well and truly earnt his spot.
"We're hopeful he can keep playing in a similar manner to the way he's been going at VFL level. If he does that, he'll have an impact on the game."
The 19-year-old has been used most recently as an intercept defender and gets his opportunity with injuries to Harry Taylor and Lachie Henderson following the retirements of Tom Lonergan and Andrew Mackie.
"He's a very flexible player, that's one of the things he's always had in his favour. Even as a relatively raw player coming onto our list, he's got more of an athletics background.
"We're a little bit stretched in our back half and Jack's shown good capacity to play back there. He's also played mid-forward.
"He's not Mark Blicavs yet but he's similar in that his athleticism adds some attributes that allow him to play in different spots."
The St Joseph's College product will be one of five home-grown players to meet the Hawks, alongside Patrick Dangerfield, Jed Bews, Gary Ablett and Tom Stewart.
Scott confirmed Dangerfield will play on Monday with Nakia Cockatoo named as an emergency.
Joel Selwood is a certain starter while Cam Guthrie has also been named after suffering a sore groin last start.
After four goals in the VFL last week, Scott was confident returning forward Rhys Stanley could co-exist in a forward line with Ratugolea and Tom Hawkins.
"We've got no doubt about that actually," he said.
"Hawk has been the mainstay, we've got high hopes Esava is going to be a tall player that doesn't add to any immobility.
"Sometimes we do focus on how many ruckman size players a team has, that's irrelevant, it's how mobile they are and how well they can defend. We think that mix has real possibility for us."
Monday, April 2
Geelong v Hawthorn at the MCG, 3.20pm AEST
GEELONG
In: R.Stanley, P.Dangerfield, J.Henry
Out: H.Taylor (foot), Z.Smith, J.Murdoch
New: Jack Henry (Geelong U18)
HAWTHORN
No change
