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Hawthorn v Essendon

Saturday 16 March, 1.45pmMelbourne Cricket Ground

Finally!! Round 1, 2024 is upon us. The quicker our pre-season is forgotten the better. It’s time to look ahead to what will hopefully be an exciting 2024 and there’s no better to start the season than a clash against our arch rivals, Essendon, in front of a 75,000+ crowd at the MCG on a Saturday afternoon.

The make up of our Round 1 side will be fascinating. Unfortunately, injuries to key players during the pre-season have made things incredibly difficult for match committee heading into the early rounds of the season.

Let’s take a look at how I think the team will look in Round 1.

The backline

Our first choice full back James Blanck suffered a season ending ACL injury in the intra-club a few week’s ago. Talk about a disaster. 25 year old key defender Ethan Phillips, who recently joined Box Hill from Port Melbourne, was promoted to the list and is a chance to play against the Bombers. I think he needs a few weeks at Box Hill and Sam Frost will get the first crack at full back. Frost will have a huge job against Peter Wright this week, and the last time Frost played on Wright, he kicked 6.0.

Josh Weddle, Karl Amon & Jarman Impey will provide the run, whilst Jack Scrimshaw & skipper James Sicily will fill the other roles. Our backline is in for a world of pain if our midfield struggles like they have all pre-season.

The midfield

Peter Crimmins Medalist, and arguably our best midfielder Will Day suffered a stress fracture in his foot and will miss at least the first 5 weeks of the season. If we are looking at the positives, it will give an opportunity for a couple of our young guns in Cam Mackenzie and Henry Hustwaite to earn a spot in the team over the opening few weeks. Both Mackenzie and Hustwaite were shining lights in the pre-season and will both get opportunities to play early on in the season. For Round 1, there’s only room for one.

Jai Newcombe will once again lead the midfield and despite playing under 55 games, has become one of the best inside midfielders in the AFL. James Worpel & Connor Nash need to stand up and provide Newcombe with more support. They have both had average pre-seasons and with Day out, the pressure will be on.

The Bombers best midfielder is Zach Merrett - does Finn Maginness play to tag Merrett? With Darcy Parish in doubt, the question will be, do the Hawks go head to head, or play a tagger? If Merrett has under 20 touches, the Hawks should win.

The wing position is also an interesting watch at selection. Former Bomber Massimo D’Ambrosio has impressed this pre-season and deserves to play against his former team. Josh Ward is another one that’s played predominantly wing this pre-season. In my opinion he is not a wingman, but his ability to play inside mid cements his spot in the team. Harry Morrison finished season 2023 in good form and seems to be a Sam Mitchell favourite. I have him just missing out for Round 1.

The ruck

Major alarm bells. Ned Reeves had some quality games last season but his issue to run out games and ability to impact around the ground was a big problem. From what I’ve seen this pre-season, it’s going to carry over into season 2024. As we saw last season, the Reeves and Meek combination doesn’t work, so unless Reeves is injured, Meek will be playing at Box Hill this season.

The forward line

A complete