AFL round 9 teams: Charlie West not debuting for Collingwood, Bombers won’t rush Darcy Parish

Excitement had built all week for a possible debut for a young Magpie, but he won’t feature in Collingwood’s blockbuster with Fremantle on Thursday night. FULL TEAMS.

Collingwood has held back draftee Charlie West from a round 9 debut after opting to take a cautious approach to his recovery from a foot concern.

The No.50 pick looked set for a debut on Thursday night against Fremantle when coach Craig McRae flagged wholesale changes this week, but he is instead a travelling emergency.

Instead, Collingwood has brought back Jeremy Howe, Ed Allan, Lachie Sullivan and Oleg Markov for the clash against the Dockers.

The Magpies chose to manage a host of premiership stars, with Brayden Maynard, Jordan De Goey, Brody Mihocek and Scott Pendlebury all remaining in Melbourne after the short turnaround from the heartbreaking loss to Geelong.

Fremantle has recalled former first and second round picks Neil Erasmus and Cooper Simpson, replacing the injured Hayden Young and the omitted Quinton Narkle.

Simpson has not played senior football since round 8 last year, but is averaging 20.8 disposals for Peel this year.

Josh Draper has also been dropped, with Pat Voss returning from suspension.

Voss copped a three-match ban for striking Nick Vlastuin, with the Dockers failing to overturn the hefty suspension at the tribunal.

The remaining teams will be named on Thursday night, however Essendon has confirmed it will hand a debut to Will Hayes in the clash against Sydney.

Taken at No.25 in the 2022 draft, Hayes has been in strong form in the VFL this season, and will come in after Jordan Ridley was sidelined for eight weeks with a high-grade hamstring strain.

DARCY PARISH’S RETURN UNCLEAR

- Tyler Lewis

The wretched injury history of gun midfielder Darcy Parish will force Essendon to ease the All-Australian back conservatively over the coming weeks.

Parish, 27, is yet to play a game this year due to ongoing soft-tissue setbacks but is scheduled to be medically fit to play football next week.

But Essendon coach Brad Scott is “leaning towards a more conservative approach” with Parish given he has played just 36 of a possible 75 matches since his career-best 2021 season.

“Whether (Parish) is medically cleared to play, he may be, he may not be, but my view on this is I just want Darcy back injury free and not concerned,” Scott said.

All-Australian midfielder Darcy Parish will be eased back from injury. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“I am leaning towards a more conservative approach with Darcy, but I will need to collaborate on our medical team with that one, we just won’t be risking him.

“He’s had too many setbacks to bring him back before he’s had a really good block of work.

“He’s going well, he’s training well, but it’s a long season and once we get him back we want to make sure he stays back.”

Essendon lost Jade Gresham, Jordan Ridley and Harrison Jones through injury in a costly win over North Melbourne last Thursday.

But the Bombers are set to welcome back tough inside midfielder Jye Caldwell this week as a welcome boost alongside in-form captain Zach Merrett.

Scott is rapt to have Caldwell back for what he brings on the field but says he offers so much more as a cog in the club’s culture.

“He’s an important player for us, he’s one of those of type of guys who is clearly a really capable player but a heart and soul player,” he said.

“He brings more to us than kicks, marks, handballs, tackles, contested possessions, etc – he brings a fair bit of heart and soul to our team.”

Scott was wary of North Melbourne stars Nick Larkey, Luke Davies-Uniacke and Jy Simpkin last week and admits he has his hands full with Sydney on Saturday.

He says the Bombers must contain Sydney’s array of “off Broadway” types that cause just as much damage as its big-name superstars.

“Teams go through ebbs and flows at different stages but what is a constant with Sydney is that they’ve got absolute stars of the competition,” he said.

Essendon coach Brad Scott compared in-form skipper Zach Merrett to Collingwood great Nathan Buckley last week. Picture: Josh Chadwick/Getty Images

“I know (Errol) Gulden and (Callum) Mills are a couple of stars missing but (Isaac) Heeney and (Chad) Warner are as influential as any other midfielders in the competition at the moment.

“Sydney, particularly in Melbourne, some of their I suppose off-Broadway type of players are very, very capable and don’t get the recognition in Melbourne they deserve.

“At AFL clubs we give them the recognition, I think there’s a lot of players, (James) Rowbottom is a good example, I think he does a power of work for them as a really important player.

“People quite rightly talk about Heeney and Warner for how good they’ve been this year.”

Brayden Maynard is one Magpie that won’t make the trip to Perth. Picture: Michael Klein

PIES LEAVE 948 GAMES AT HOME FOR TRIP WEST

Collingwood will strategically manage three of its best players for its Thursday night clash with Fremantle while another will be briefly sidelined through injury.

The Magpies, coming off a five-day break with the longest trip in football, will be without Scott Pendlebury, Brody Mihocek, Brayden Maynard and Jordan De Goey.

Mihocek is the only player to be out through injury this week after succumbing to abdominal pain he has played through for weeks.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae said leaving 948 games worth of experience on the sidelines was a “somewhat deliberate” plan conjured ahead of the season.

“’Checkers’ (Mihocek) has got a bit of an abdominal strain which will keep him out, hopefully only for one week, we’ll wait and see,” he said.

“The other three will be managed; we planned this to be honest a long time ago. We saw the draw come out and we thought ‘let’s be strategic in this’.

“(Maynard) has had something (foot) ongoing all season and we’ve managed him through that. We saw this opportunity a long way out.

“He could arguably play but we’re going to set himself back further and further if we keep pushing this.”

Brayden Maynard and Scott Pendlebury won’t play against Fremantle. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Collingwood hopes De Goey will return after just one week, but the dynamic Magpie spent just five minutes at training on Tuesday.

McRae urged patience with De Goey, insisting the premiership star would come good in coming weeks.

“We’re sort of one step forward, one step back with Jordy at the moment, we’d like to be going a bit faster than what we are with him,” he said.

“We’ve got to have patience, we’re asking our Collingwood faithful to have patience because the plan is to get him going in coming weeks.

“His groins are fine, it’s sort of managing loads and how much can he do around training and playing.

“He’s literally only just started getting consistency with training and playing in the same week, which is hard to do in this league.”

"They play a big role in my development."

We chat to young forward Charlie West following his three goal haul in last night's win over the Bombers: https://t.co/PK7ptGHXRopic.twitter.com/Uz621GC65d

— Collingwood FC VFL (@CollingwoodVFL) April 27, 2025

The Magpies withdrew Jeremy Howe, Oleg Markov, Lachie Sullivan, Ed Allan and Charlie West from the VFL last week in preparation for their quick turnaround.

McRae said Collingwood fans had plenty to look forward to if West was to make his AFL debut against the Dockers.

“(West) is definitely in the mix, we’ll take him to Perth. For as long as I have been a coach, setting people up to be successful has always been my philosophy,” he said.

“He hasn’t trained over the weekend, we managed him for this game potentially and he hasn’t trained. He trained today (and did) well, so it’ll just be ‘is he going to be at 100 per cent to show what he’s got as an 18-year-old in AFL footy for the first time?’

“Charlie is an 18-year-old, a big lad, I reckon he’s the old-fashioned full forward, like an Allen Jakovich, big barrel chested coming out and taking contested marks.

“He’s been averaging four goals a game at VFL for most weeks, he’s got sticky hands. We’re excited for what he can be, again he’s 18, most key forwards don’t come good until mid-20s, but we’re excited by what he can do.”

STEWART MAKES CASE TO RETURN FROM INJURY

Dan Batten, Geelong Advertiser

Geelong star Tom Stewart ran laps and completed sprint run throughs away from the main group at the Cats’ light Tuesday session as he pushes to return for his side’s clash with GWS on Sunday,

Stewart has been dealing with a posterior cruciate ligament concern since round two and the Cats opted to rest him for their epic win over Collingwood.

The five-time All-Australian had strapping around his knee and didn’t take part in drills at GMHBA Stadium, while Gryan Miers trained with the main group after missing the last two matches with concussion.

Tom Stewart ran laps and completed sprint run throughs away from the main group at Geelong's light session on Tuesday. Rhys Stanley also did some light running in a positive sign after his hamstring injury.

Story: https://t.co/7D3T5POPbl@[e-mail]/XxYqXnUgCD

— Dan Batten (@danbatten_) May 6, 2025

Tom Stewart runs laps at training as he pushes to return to the Geelong side. Picture: Alison Wynd

Coach Chris Scott speaking to Tom Stewart at Cats training. Picture: Alison Wynd

Miers also completed Geelong’s main session last Thursday with ease in a non-contact cap.

Geelong coach Chris Scott said post-match that Jack Henry was a “chance” to return against GWS on Sunday but he was part of the rehab group early in the session.

Henry also made up some of the numbers for the ‘B’ side in a light match simulation drill.

Ruckman Rhys Stanley was subbed out at quarter time on Saturday night with a hamstring injury but the 34-year-old completed light running off to the side.

Geelong tall Sam De Koning said Stewart and Henry were “tracking well” but he was unsure of timelines for the defensive pair or Stanley.

“It’s been good to see them out there running and working on their bodies and trying to get fit and ready to put their hand up for selection,” De Koning said.

“So they look like they’re moving well and I’m not too sure on the timeframes of either of them, but they’ve been looking good and been happy around the club and supporting the boys.”

In-form captain Patrick Dangerfield was off to the side for some of the session but the Cats often manage his training load.

The Cats revealed on Sunday that Lawson Humphries entered concussion protocols post-game after receiving a further head injury assessment.

In a positive sign of progress, injury-riddled trio Cam Guthrie (Achilles), Toby Conway (back) and Jack Martin (management) also took part in match simulation.

Geelong will release it’s official injury update at 5pm on Tuesday.

Originally published as AFL round 9 teams: Charlie West not debuting for Collingwood, Bombers won’t rush Darcy Parish