Jamie Macmillan has passed a thorough fitness test and has been declared fit to return to the North Melbourne side to take on Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
Delivered by Allied Express, the Kangaroos side has only one change, with Brad Scott telling NMFC.com.au what Macmillan provides to the playing group.
“He’s a really important player for us and he adds flexibility to our midfield and defensive half. He’s in our leadership group for a reason, he’s a very important player.”
PRESS PLAY above to watch Scott's thoughts on selection | YouTube
The defender had been battling an Achilles injury which sidelined him for the Kangaroos’ past three matches. He was put through his paces at North’s main training session at Arden Street on Thursday afternoon and has been selected to replace Trent Dumont in the side.
Despite a sensational start to his AFL career which included a clutch goal late in the game against the Cats, Dumont has been omitted.
“The simple truth is that 23 don’t go into 22, so there was always going to be an unfortunate player to miss out,” Scott said.
“Trent was fantastic for us last week and he’s going to play a lot of footy for us, he’ll get a lot of opportunities throughout 2015 for sure.”
Aaron Black has squeezed back into the AFL frame after two goals for North Ballarat last week. Named as an emergency alongside Dumont and key defender Joel Tippett, Black is yet to play a senior game this year.
Luke McDonald and Lachlan Hansen will be on the outer for one more week, the former not recovering from leg soreness while the latter will spend at least one more week with Werribee.
“Luke McDonald was touch and go; we really feel that while he completed training he’s not absolutely perfect and we don’t want to take any risks with him,” Scott explained.
“We made an early call on him to give him another week and be right the week after.
“Lachie’s available for selection but it would be premature to rush him back in quickly. He played well for Werribee last week but we feel another game at VFL level is warranted.”
RELATED: Definitive Preview
Team v Hawthorn
B: Ben Jacobs, Scott Thompson, Michael Firrito
HB: Shaun Atley, Robbie Tarrant, Sam Wright
C: Robbie Nahas, Jack Ziebell, Ryan Bastinac
HF: Brent Harvey, Jarrad Waite, Shaun Higgins
F: Lindsay Thomas, Drew Petrie, Ben Brown
Fol: Todd Goldstein, Ben Cunnington, Andrew Swallow
Int: Mason Wood, Jamie Macmillan, Kayne Turner, Sam Gibson
Emer: Trent Dumont, Aaron Black, Joel Tippett
In: Jamie Macmillan
Out: Trent Dumont (omitted)
Meanwhile Hawthorn has made two changes to its line-up. Ryan Schoenmakers has come in to replace the injured Brian Lake, while Liam Shiels is in for Brendan Whitecross.
Team v North Melbourne
B: Shaun Burgoyne, Josh Gibson, Ben Stratton
HB: Grant Birchall, Ryan Schoenmakers, Taylor Duryea
C: Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Brad Hill
HF: Isaac Smith, Jack Gunston, Paul Puopolo
F: Ben McEvoy, Jarryd Roughead, Cyril Rioli
Fol: Jonathan Ceglar, Luke Hodge, Will Langford
Int: Luke Breust, Billy Hartung, Liam Shiels, Matt Suckling
Emer: Brendan Whitecross, Tim O’Brien, Angus Litherland
In: Liam Shiels, Ryan Schoenmakers
Out: Brian Lake, Brendan Whitecross
