The North Ballarat Roosters have made four changes ahead of their Victorian Football League clash against the first-placed Box Hill Hawks at Eureka Stadium on Sunday.
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Louis Herbert comes out of the squad with a small muscle tear and is expected to miss between three and six weeks, while Matthew Johnston joins him on the sidelines after suffering broken ribs in the game against Essendon.
A corked thigh also kept Brenton Payne out of the same match, but he will play if he passes a fitness test on Friday night.
Meanwhile, Lane Buckwell comes out of the side due to unavailability and Shannon Beks has been omitted.
But some good news for the Roosters is joint-captain Luke Kiel makes his return following a hamstring injury and Matt Austin comes in after being a late withdrawal last week due to a shoulder injury.
Nicholas Hausler replaces Beks as the back up ruckman, Billy Jones has been named in the squad and Callan Wellings remains as the 23rd player.
Roosters coach Marc Greig said while injuries had been unfortunate, it was pleasing to have two key returns.
“Losing Louis and Johnno, they’ve played most of the games this year, so you lose two important players, but then we do gain two in regards to Kielly and Matt Austin as far as leadership goes.”
Greig said the upside to this week’s team was leg speed and the ability to move the ball quickly, which he hoped would catch a strong Box Hill outfit off guard.
“We’ve picked guys like Jacob Wheelahan for his speed, while Luke Kiel is a genuine quick player, so we want his drive off half back,” Greig said.
“We have Tony Lockyer and Shaun Lyle running off half back, and we need a bit more out of our inside midfield group in regards to using the speed from a stoppage to spread.”
The first quarter will once again be the key focus for the Roosters, after a poor start against Essendon last week.
“With our intent, we didn’t apply too much pressure and Essendon kicked five goals in the first five minutes, so extremely disappointed when it was such a focus,” Greig said.
“It would be interesting to see how we do go as a team if we did come in at the first break two or three goals up, because we actually haven’t been in that situation this year.”