AFL round 11 LIVE updates: Fremantle Dockers, Collingwood Magpies battle in Perth

Neither side has made a late change. Corey Wagner (Dockers) and Will Parker (Magpies) are the subs.

Collingwood have named the son of a former Dockers captain and an ex-first-class cricketer to make their debuts against Fremantle at Optus Stadium on Friday night as they turn to youth after ruling out star midfielder Jordan De Goey through injury.

Ed Allan, the son of Hawthorn premiership player and ex-Dockers captain Ben Allan, and Wil Parker, who played for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield and the Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL, have both been named to play for the defending premiers.

Allan, a tall midfielder, was a draft bolter when the Magpies used pick No.19 to pluck him from Claremont with their first selection in the 2022 national draft. He was ineligible to be a Hawthorn father-son selection as Ben left the club to join Fremantle after playing 98 games and winning a best and fairest in the Hawks’ 1991 premiership year.

He has impressed in the VFL over his two seasons at the club so far but found it tough to break into the Collingwood line-up as the Magpies sat at the top of the table for most of last season.

In contrast, Parker only played his first VFL game a month ago after being placed on the club’s list as a category B rookie when he decided to pursue football after a promising cricket career led to him representing his state.

He made his debut with Victoria as a 17-year-old, becoming the fourth-youngest person to play cricket for the state, and finished his career as a leg-spinner with four first-class matches as well as playing in the BBL with the Hobart Hurricanes.

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They’ve been the most wayward side over the past fortnight and Fremantle will have the eyes of the nation of them when they take on Collingwood under lights at Optus Stadium on Friday night.

The Dockers’ wobbles in front of goal have reached red-alert levels over the past two weeks, with the side following up their 4.15 against Sydney with 9.18 against St Kilda last Saturday.

The usually-reliable Jye Amiss was one of the worst offenders last week with 2.5, while Hayden Young (0.3) and Michael Walters (0.2) were also wayward.

Forwards coach Jaymie Graham has been busy this week ensuring the Dockers straighten up in front of goal.

But coach Justin Longmuir also doesn’t want to make too big a fuss about it.

“The forwards have a good discussion about it,” Longmuir said.

“It’s a fine balance between making a big deal out of it, and bringing it even further front of mind for the players, or focusing on the things that we’re doing really well to allow us to get a lot of shots on goal.

“Two weeks is a borderline trend. I think we can snap out of it just as quickly as it came.

“I’m not saying we’re just crossing our fingers and hoping it gets better.

“We’ve worked on it. We’ve had more shots on goal this week than we have the previous weeks, but I don’t feel like it’s a massive issue.”

Fremantle have been boosted by the return of ruckman Sean Darcy from a calf injury.

Darcy’s inclusion means Luke Jackson will spend longer stints up forward, where he will link up with Amiss and Josh Treacy in a powerful three-pronged attack.

Collingwood have made five changes, with Ed Allan and former Sheffield Shield cricketer Wil Parker handed their AFL debuts.

Forward Brody Mihocek, Beau McCreery and Charlie Dean return to the side.

Jordan De Goey has been ruled out with an abdominal injury, while Reef McInnes (concussion), Will Hoskin-Elliott (hamstring), Oleg Markov (personal reasons) and Finlay Macrae (axed) are the other outs.

De Goey was the match-winner in last week’s four-point victory over Adelaide, but Longmuir is taking nothing for granted.

“I’m not sad he’s not going to be playing, but they’ve still got a lot of experience across all their lines,” Longmuir said.

“They’re definitely not a one-man band.”

Collingwood (6-3-1) are unbeaten across their past seven games, posting six wins and a draw to move up to fifth on the table.

“They’re one of the best teams obviously. They’re the benchmark, so hopefully we can take it up to them,” Jackson said.

“It will be massive and we’ll have a full house hopefully of purple.”

Fremantle are ninth with a 6-4 record.

AAP

G’day everyone and welcome to this evening’s AFL live blog. I’m Roy Ward and I’ll be with you for all the action and reactions from Fremantle v Collingwood at Optus Stadium.

First bounce is set for 8.10pm AEST.

Enjoy the night to come.