Melbourne to be without three first-choice forwards for Round 1 clash against St Kilda

PAUL Roos has opened the door for 24-year-old rookie Alexis Georgiou to make his AFL debut against St Kilda.

PAUL Roos has opened the door for 24-year-old rookie Alexis Georgiou to make his AFL debut against St Kilda.

The Melbourne coach said today Mitch Clark was likely to be placed on the long-term injury list after taking indefinite leave to deal with personal issues.

He said Georgiou, recruited from SANFL club Norwood, was likely to be promoted to the senior list in time to face the Saints on Saturday night.

The close-checking defender has played every pre-season game.

Roos said small forward Jay Kennedy-Harris was also in the selection frame for Round 1.

MORE TO COME

Meanwhile, forward Chris Dawes remains doubtful to play in the club’s season-opener, leaving Roos with a makeshift forward setup on Saturday night.

Dawes has sat out the Demons three practice matches after injuring his calf in an intra-club game almost a month ago.

His expected absence in Round 1 means Melbourne would be without its three first-choice key forwards with Jesse Hogan (back) and Mitch Clark (personal leave) also unavailable.

CLARK TO TAKE BREAK FROM FOOTY

Without them, Roos will look toward spring-heeled goalkicker Jeremy Howe and 200cm forward Jack Fitzpatrick to kick goals against the inexperienced Saints at Etihad Stadium.

Fitness chief David Misson last week said the club would be cautious with Dawes’s recovery.

“Dawsesy had that calf tightness in the intra-club a couple of weeks ago and he’s working well though his rehab,” Misson said.

“As I’ve said previously, we are not going to rush him just to get him back for Round 1. He may be ready.

“But we want to set him up to have a good year, so we’ll work through his training next week and we’ll have a look at how he is going towards the end of next week.”

DEES KEEN TO LOCK IN ROOS’ SUCCESSOR

Without a full practice game under his belt this preseason, Melbourne could look to return Dawes through the VFL.

There is no timeline set for Hogan’s comeback after he was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his lower back.

But it remains possible the first-year spearhead could return in the first month of the season after showing solid progress in the past week.

“He has settled very quickly and the doc’s pretty happy with him,” Misson said.