MATTHEW Cottrell will play his first game for the 2023 season. 

Making his return from a foot injury sustained in pre-season, Cottrell will feature for the Carlton Reserves in their Round 6 clash with Footscray. 

On the back of a training block in recent weeks, Cottrell will be one of 11 AFL-listed players featuring for the Blues today. 

Tom De Koning will feature in the VFL, but the other three AFL emergencies - Lachie Cowan, Lachie Fogarty and Matthew Kennedy - won’t play. 

Jack Carroll has been managed, but there are returns for Harry Lemmey and Alex Mirkov, who missed last week’s nail-biting win over Sandringham. 

There’ll also be a glimpse at a future star of the AFL competition, with the highly touted Harley Reid to pull on the Navy Blue today. 

As part of Carlton’s relationship with the Bendigo Pioneers, Reid has been named as the VFL Blues’ 23rd player. 

The game kicks off at 11:05am and will be live-streamed on the AFL website.