Collingwood will blood its second debutant this season with Lachlan Keeffe set to play his first AFL match at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.

Key forward Chris Dawes, who could miss around six matches with a broken knuckle, is the only omission from the side that beat Hawthorn by 41 points.

Keeffe, 21, is an athletic 204 centimetre former elite junior soccer player who arrived at the club from Gympie in Queensland as a non-registered rookie at the end of 2008.

He earned elevation to the senior list at the end of 2010 after impressing playing for the Magpies’ VFL side. In 2011 Keeffe has been named an emergency a number of times after performing well in a key defensive role throughout the Magpies’ successful NAB Cup campaign.

Simon Buckley and Andrew Krakouer both played their first games for the Magpies in round one after beginning their AFL careers at Melbourne and Richmond respectively.

The Magpies are second on the ladder with 12 wins from 13 matches, while the Kangaroos, who lost to St Kilda by nine points last week, are tenth with six wins and eight losses.

COLLINGWOOD
B: Leon Davis, Ben Reid, Harry O’Brien
HB: Alan Toovey, Nick Maxwell, Heath Shaw
C: Dane Swan, Dale Thomas, Sharrod Wellingham
HF: Jarryd Blair, Chris Tarrant, Andrew Krakouer
F: Steele Sidebottom, Travis Cloke, Leigh Brown
Foll: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Luke Ball
Int: Luke Rounds, Lachlan Keeffe, Simon Buckley, Alex Fasolo

Emg: Tom Young, Paul Seedsman, John McCarthy

In: Lachlan Keeffe
Out: Chris Dawes (hand)