18-year old Chris Schmidt has been selected to make his senior debut for the Vodafone Brisbane Lions on Saturday night against Richmond.
Schmidt was selected by the Lions with pick 34 in last years AFL National Draft and hails from West Adelaide. He has been knocking on the selection door for a number of weeks now following a string of impressive performances with the Suncoast Lions. This week he has been given his opportunity.
Schmidt is one of five changes the Lions have made Saturday night's match. The senior team also welcomes co-captain Chris Johnson, Jared Brennan, Colm Begley and Rhan Hooper.
Hooper, 19, will play his first match of the 2006 season after bursting onto the AFL scene last year.
Ashley McGrath will miss this weekend's match with a sore knee. Together with Jonathan Brown, McGrath leads the team in goals this season with 20.
Wayde Mills, Jason Roe, Beau McDonald and Ben Fixter have all been omitted from the side that lost to Collingwood by 33 points.
Richmond have recalled Jay Schulz, Matt White and Dean Polo in place of Andrew Krakouer, Danny Meyer and Jack Riewoldt.
The Lions full team is:
B: Chris Johnson (2), Daniel Merrett (21), Jared Brennan (17)
HB: Jed Adcock (7), Josh Drummond (39), Robert Copeland (30)
C: Troy Selwood (28), Nigel Lappin (44), Cheynee Stiller (32)
HF: Justin Sherman (11), Jonathan Brown (16), Tim Notting (8)
F: Michael Rischitelli (35), Joel Patfull (24), Mitch Clark (1)
Foll: Jamie Charman (19), Simon Black (20), Luke Power (6)
Int: Richard Hadley (14), Rhan Hooper (33), Chris Schmidt (13), Colm Begley (46)
Emerg: Scott Harding (5), Joel Macdonald (26), Cameron Wood (31)
