Carlton are considering rolling the dice on Charlie Curnow, Mitch McGovern, Adam Saad and Orazio Fantasia for Sunday’s crunch clash with St Kilda, while the Bulldogs have surprisingly named Tim English in their extended squad.
In other big round-24 selection news, West Coast lost Liam Ryan for their trip to Geelong, Chad Warner is back for Sydney, Adelaide dropped Josh Rachele and Hawthorn named defender Jack Scrimshaw despite his finger surgery.
Curnow (ankle) and Saad (hamstring) missed last week’s win over West Coast in Perth, while Fantasia (calf) has missed the past six games for the Blues.
McGovern had a hamstring concern after last week’s win over West Coast.
But all four have been named in Carlton’s extended squad, giving the Blues more time to decide who will be able to make it out on the field for a match they may need to win to secure their finals spot.
English was expected to miss another week with an ankle injury, but was named in the starting side of the Bulldogs’ extended squad for Sunday’s meeting with GWS.
Bulldogs forward Rhylee West will miss the match due to a broken jaw.
The Giants have lost defender Lachie Ash to suspension.
Sydney welcome back Warner for Saturday’s match against Adelaide but have opted to rest defender Tom McCartin.
The Crows axed Rachele and welcomed back Taylor Walker (eye).
The Eagles have lost Jeremy McGovern (thumb), Ryan, Andrew Gaff (retired) and Alex Witherden (hip) for Saturday’s clash with Geelong, while Zane Trew was dropped.
Defender Rhett Bazzo, Clay Hall, Jack Hutchinson, Ryan Maric and Campbell Chesser come into what will be an inexperienced side.
Geelong welcome back Tanner Bruhn from concussion and have recalled retiring veteran Zach Tuohy and Jed Bews.
Gary Rohan, Mitch Knevitt and Oisin Mullin were all dropped.
Hawthorn lost star midfielder Will Day (collarbone) for Saturday’s clash with North Melbourne in Launceston, while Changkuoth Jiath (calf) will miss a third straight match.
The Hawks recalled Finn Maginness, while Scrimshaw retained his spot despite undergoing surgery on a dislocated finger.
North Melbourne lost defenders Charlie Comben and Miller Bergman to concussion.
Fremantle will again be without Alex Pearce (arm), Josh Treacy (knee) and Sean Darcy (knee) for Sunday’s crunch clash with Port Adelaide, but Michael Walters was named in the extended squad.
Port lost Dan Houston to suspension but forward Mitch Georgiades is back from injury.
Collingwood recalled Finlay Macrae, Joe Richards, Charlie Dean and Ed Allan for Friday night’s encounter with Melbourne.
The Demons selected Bailey Laurie as a replacement for Tom Sparrow (ankle).
Essendon have handed retiring veteran Dyson Heppell a farewell game for Saturday night’s clash with Brisbane at the Gabba.
The Lions recalled defensive duo Conor McKenna and Noah Answerth.
Five-goal hauls in the VFL from Jack Lukosius and Alex Sexton were enough to win their spots back for Gold Coast’s meeting with Richmond on Saturday.
The Tigers have recalled the retiring Marlion Pickett along with Maurice Rioli and Liam Baker.