The Northern Blues face one of the biggest challenges in the competition when they play host to Sandringham at Ikon Park on Sunday.
Coming into Sunday’s game after losing their past five games, Northern run into a Sandringham side in red hot form, having won eight of their past nine matches.
One of the form sides in the competition, the Zebras have burst into the top four over recent months, in a time where the Blues have hit a barren run of form.
Cameron Wood has been selected in the VFL side for the first time this season, with Tom Fields and Jason Tutt the other Carlton inclusions into the Blues team from last week’s loss to Collingwood.
The three - who are part of nine inclusions into the extended 27-man squad - bring the Carlton contingent to nine, with Chris Yarran and Troy Menzel again the marquee names.
Daman Aujla, Zach Ballard, Sean Bolger, Paul Dirago, Matthew Haynes and Jack Johnston are the other inclusions in the squad, while Alex Aurrichio has been omitted.
With Wood due to battle Jason Holmes in the ruck battle, Aurrichio loses his spot in the side after being called upon to largely play a lone hand for the last 10 weeks.
Potential Carlton father-son recruit Bailey Rice will play for the Northern Blues for the second consecutive week, ironically coming against St Kilda’s VFL affiliate, the other side he can choose to play for come draft time.
After playing solely in defence last weekend, Liam Jones has been named in the forward line alongside Matthew Watson and Blaine Johnson.
Tom Wilson will again captain the young side, with just 12 of the 27 players named in the squad having less than 10 games of VFL experience.
VFL premiership player Tutt will offer some much-needed maturity in his return to the side, against a Zebras side who have run out games with aplomb in recent times.
With their recent record, the Zebras have shot into third place and find themselves a game clear in the top four, with their only slip-up coming in Round 12 against Collingwood.
The Blues will have to take heart out of the last time the two sides met: Northern triumphed by six points in a thriller at Trevor Barker Beach Oval for their maiden win of the season.
Clinton Jones and Mitch Brown have been ever-present for the Zebras this season and regularly among their top performers, with a backbone of their success coming from a collection of VFL-listed experience.
As St Kilda’s AFL affiliate, ex-Northern Bullant Ahmed Saad has been another of Sandringham’s consistent performers, with his 20 goals seeing him sit atop the club leaderboard.
After his best on ground effort last week in the win over Port Melbourne, Darren Minchington has been called up to the AFL side, but the likes of an in-form Cameron Shenton and Tim Membrey pose a significant threat.
The Zebras will be looking to run a young Blues side off their legs, with a feature of their wins in recent weeks being their ability to run away with games: they booted nine goals to two in last week’s win over the Borough.
The most heartening news of the week comes in the Development League: Cameron Giles has been named to make his return to footy.
After missing the last 16 months with a navicular injury, Giles’ long road to recovery and return comes on Sunday, with the Development game against the Zebras preceding the VFL encounter.
Fraser Russell has also been named to make his return from injury via the Development side on Sunday morning.
The VFL game will commence from Ikon Park at 2pm, while the Development game kicks off from 11am: entry is free for Carlton and Northern Blues members.
Players to watch
Chris Yarran: Named to play in the VFL for the second consecutive week, Yarran will be looking to put in a big performance against the Zebras particularly if the Blues are to come away with a shock victory. After being dropped from the Carlton team, Yarran played in a number of positions last week and will likely be swung between positions on Sunday, with the Blues in dire need of his pace and experience.
Jason Tutt: After missing all forms of footy last week with an ankle injury, Tutt is a big inclusion for the Northern Blues as he returns to action on Sunday afternoon. Whether it be on a wing or up forward, Tutt’s has a big role to play and his VFL experience will need to come to the fore amongst an extremely young Northern Blues squad.
Cameron Wood: The ruckman has been named for his first VFL game of the year having missed only the one AFL match to date in 2015. Wood - who finished in fifth place in the Northern Blues best and fairest last season - will spend the majority of the day pitted against Jason Holmes, who is yet to miss a game for Sandringham this year. Having dominated in the ruck before his AFL selection last season, Wood has a big task in giving his midfielders first use of the footy.
