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Collingwood has made four changes to its side for the club’s first ever game against the Gold Coast Suns, at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.
2010 premiership player Brent Macaffer returns to the side for his first game since round two, along with Tyson Goldsack, Cameron Wood and Simon Buckley.
Sharrod Wellingham (groin), Alan Toovey (finger) and Darren Jolly (illness) have all been ruled out, while youngster Luke Rounds has been omitted from the side that will be without eight players from last year’s flag 22.
Macaffer, 23, spent a number of weeks on the sidelines recovering from a foot fracture after playing in the first two matches of the year. He was part of the mid-season high altitude training camp in Arizona in June, and he has performed well at VFL level since returning to action on June 26.
Senior coach Mick Malthouse declared after the win over North Melbourne in round 16 that Macaffer was “on the absolute cusp” of senior selection.
Macaffer’s premiership teammate, Goldsack, has played five AFL matches this season for a career total of 61, the last of which was in Sydney in round 14.
24-year-old Wood will replace Jolly in the ruck. He also last played in round 14, for a season total of eight AFL games, each in the absence of Jolly.
Former Demon Buckley, meanwhile, last played against the Kangaroos a fortnight ago and has appeared in nine matches this season after making his debut for Collingwood in round one.
Rounds has been named an emergency along with untried duo Tom Young and Ben Sinclair.
The eight premiership players unavailable this week are Jolly, Toovey, Wellingham, Heath Shaw (suspension), Alan Didak (calf), Dayne Beams (foot), Chris Dawes (hand) and Nathan Brown (knee).
Of those players Didak, Beams, Jolly and Wellingham will be a chance to return soon, while Toovey and Dawes are still a few weeks away. Shaw won’t be eligible to play again until the first week of the finals, and Brown is out for the season.
The Magpies are first on the ladder with 14 wins from 15 matches with a 19-point victory over Carlton last Saturday.
The Suns, who sit 16th on the ladder, are coming off their third win of the season - a 15-point triumph over Richmond in Cairns. They have made two changes to their winning side with Nathan Krakouer (49 games/ 14 goals) and Maverick Weller (8/ 1) coming in for Charlie Dixon (9/ 6) and Hayden Jolly (4/ 0).
Click here to view the round 18 broadcast guide.
AFL ROUND 2011
Gold Coast v Collingwood
Saturday 23 July
Metricon Stadium, 7:10pm
COLLINGWOOD
B: Leon Davis, Ben Reid, Harry O’Brien
HB: Brent Macaffer, Nick Maxwell, Tyson Goldsack
C: Dane Swan, Dale Thomas, Simon Buckley
HF: Jarryd Blair, Chris Tarrant, Andrew Krakouer
F: Steele Sidebottom, Travis Cloke, Leigh Brown
Foll: Cameron Wood, Scott Pendlebury, Luke Ball
Inter: John McCarthy, Lachlan Keeffe, Ben Johnson, Alex Fasolo
Emerg: Luke Rounds, Tom Young, Ben Sinclair
In: Cameron Wood, Brent Macaffer, Simon Buckley, Tyson Goldsack
Out: Sharrod Wellingham (injured - groin), Alan Toovey (injured - finger), Darren Jolly (ill), Luke Rounds (omitted)
GOLD COAST
B: Josh Toy, Nathan Bock, Campbell Brown
HB: Joel Wilkinson, Rory Thompson, Jarrod Harbrow
C: Sam Iles, Gary Ablett, Trent McKenzie
HF: Daniel Stanley, Tom Lynch, Dion Prestia
F: Harley Bennell, Josh Fraser, Jared Brennan
Foll: Zac Smith, David Swallow, Michael Rischitelli
Inter: Maverick Weller, Nathan Krakouer, Matt Shaw, Rex Liddy
Emerg: Karmichael Hunt, Hayden Jolly, Charlie Dixon
In: Weller, Krakouer
Out: Jolly, Dixon
