The Western Bulldogs have dropped veteran forward Travis Cloke for Saturday's clash against St Kilda, while the Saints will be without an injured Nick Riewoldt.
Cloke was underwhelming last weekend against Geelong in his first game back from broken ribs, and has been axed alongside fellow key forward Jack Redpath and Lukas Webb.
The Bulldogs have as expected included a ruckman; it is not premiership player Jordan Roughead, but the untried Tim English who has been named in the Dogs' side. Roughead has instead been named as an emergency, having returned to the VFL earlier this month after being sidelined for the start of the season after a hamstring injury in the pre-season. Jake Stringer and Shane Biggs also return for the reigning premiers, while Tom Liberatore remains on the outer.
The Saints have recalled Shane Savage and Darren Minchington, dropping Luke Dunstan, while club great Riewoldt comes out of the side bone bruising in his knee, which St Kilda say is the opposite knee to the one he hurt in the round one loss to Melbourne.
Meanwhile Melbourne's hopes of breaking through for their first win in Alice Springs have been boosted by the news Gold Coast champion Gary Ablett will miss Saturday's clash against the Demons. The Suns announced on Thursday that Ablett, 33, was unavailable for the clash because of successive knocks to his shoulder. "Unfortunately for Gary he got a shoulder knock in our Geelong game a few weeks ago," Suns football manager Marcus Ashcroft said on the club's website.
"He did everything he could of to get himself right to play against Port Adelaide in China, unfortunately he suffered another knock in the same area in that game." The Suns have however been bolstered by the returns of David Swallow and Pearce Hanley.
The Demons have made three changes, with James Harmes, Jake Melksham and Alex Neal-Bullen back into the side. Dean Kent and Sam Weideman have been dropped, while Christian Salem misses through suspension.
Hawthorn have dropped Kurt Heatherley, Billy Hartung and Will Langford for Friday night's clash against Sydney. Kaiden Brand comes back into the side after missing the loss to Collingwood last weekend, while Dallas Willsmore and James Cousins have been named to make their senior debuts.
Richmond have recalled Josh Caddy and Todd Elton for Saturday night's Dreamtime clash against Essendon, with Ivan Soldo and Anthony Miles dropped. Tom Bellchambers is back for the Dons, replacing fellow ruckman Matthew Leuenberger (illness).
Elsewhere Carlton have lost Dale Thomas to concussion for Sunday's match against North Melbourne, Collingwood have named Matthew Scharenberg in their squad for Sunday's clash with the Brisbane Lions following impressive form in the VFL, and West Coast have dropped Jack Redden, Fraser McInnes, Kurt Mutimer and Tom Barrass for Sunday's game against Greater Western Sydney.
