PREMIERSHIP quartet Peter and Shaun Burgoyne, Kane Cornes and Toby Thurstans are among the 10 ‘ins’ named in the 28-man-squad to tackle Sydney in the NAB Challenge game at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
Exciting forwards Daniel Motlop and Robbie Gray are also set to line up for their first games of the year, while draftee Matt Westhoff could make his Power debut.
If Matt plays on Saturday night he will be the only Westhoff on the park, with brother Justin one of seven players rested from last week’s team.
Troy Chaplin (broken hand) was the only forced change to the team that narrowly lost to Carlton last weekend.
Veterans Warren Tredrea and Dean Brogan, who both played a half last week, will watch from the sidelines, meaning Fabian Deluca will lead the ruck for the first time.
Deluca received high praise for his career-best game last week and will be supported in the ruck by Jon Giles. Young big man Hugh Minson has also been named in the 28-man-squad, which will be trimmed to 26 later in the week.
Football operations manager Peter Rohde said it was important for the players to have a good balance of game time and rest approaching the premiership season.
“Some of the more senior guys, like Tredrea and Brogan, played a bit against Carlton, so they will have a rest this weekend along with a few others,” Rohde said.
“We tend to want our guys to play the last two games of the pre-season leading into round one, so we’ve monitored their pre-seasons and made the decision to lighten the load for a few of the players this weekend.”
Into this week's 28-man squad for NAB Challenge game against the Swans:
4- Daniel Motlop
6- Adam Thomson
7- Peter Burgoyne
8- Shaun Burgoyne
17- Robbie Gray
18- Kane Cornes
28- Toby Thurstans
31- Hugh Minson
40- Matthew Westhoff
41- Ryan Willits
Out of last week's 26-man Round 1 NAB Cup team:
1- Warren Tredrea
3- Steven Salopek
9- Jacob Surjan
20- Dean Brogan
25- Domenic Cassisi
30- Troy Chaplin
36- Michael Pettigrew
39- Justin Westhoff
4- Daniel Motlop
6- Adam Thomson
7- Peter Burgoyne
8- Shaun Burgoyne
10- Travis Boak
11- Marlon Motlop
12- Nathan Lonie
14- Paul Stewart
15- David Rodan
16- Danyle Pearce
17- Robbie Gray
18- Kane Cornes
19- Ryan Williams
22- Greg Bentley
24- Damon White
26- Nick Lower
27- Alipate Carlile
28- Toby Thurstans
29- Nathan Krakouer
31- Hugh Minson
32- Matt Thomas
34- Adam Cockshell
37- Fabian Deluca
38- Jonathan Giles
40- Matthew Westhoff
41- Ryan Willits
42- Gavin Grose
44- Tom Logan
