19-year old Patrick Karnezis has been named on the Lions’ interchange bench and becomes the ninth debutant for the Club this season.
Karnezis’ inclusion leaves Callum Bartlett as the only player on the Lions senior list who has never played a senior AFL match. Bartlett has been sidelined with knee injuries since arriving at the Club with its first round draft pick in 2009.
Also returning this week will be superboot Josh Drummond, and young duo Rohan Bewick and Ryan Harwood, who have been recalled to the senior side after playing last week in the Reserves.
Drummond will be looking to shake off an injury-plagued start to 2011 and lift a Lions defence that is currently without its two spearheads - Vice Captains Daniel Merrett and Jed Adcock.
Adcock underwent surgery this week for a broken finger, while Merrett will be out for a further 8-10 weeks with a stress fracture in his back.
Matt Austin, Cheynee Stiller and Bryce Retzlaff have all been omitted from this week’s side.
This Saturday will mark the Lions’ second meeting with Richmond this season - the Lions fell to the Tigers back in Round 6 by 26 points.
The final Lions team for Round 13 is below:
B: Tom Collier (22), Matt Maguire (36), Ashley McGrath (9)
HB: Pearce Hanley (11), Joel Patfull (24), Mitchell Golby (41)
C: Daniel Rich (10), Simon Black (20), Tom Rockliff (38)
HF: Rohan Bewick (43), Mitchell Clark (1), Luke Power (6)
F: Todd Banfield (18), Jonathan Brown (16), Sam Sheldon (3)
Foll: Matthew Leuenberger (23), James Polkinghorne (31), Jack Redden (30)
Int: Josh Drummond (39), Patrick Karnezis (28), Ryan Harwood (26), Josh Green (42)
Emer: Bryce Retzlaff (37), Matt Austin (8), Cheynee Stiller (32)
In: Rohan Bewick, Josh Drummond, Patrick Karnezis, Ryan Harwood
Out: Matt Austin (omitted), Cheynee Stiller (omitted), Bryce Retzlaff (omitted), Jed Adcock (finger)
