Essendon coach John Worsfold says ruck pair Zac Clarke and Tom Bellchambers are likely to split the side’s ruck duties evenly against Melbourne at the MCG on Friday.
Bellchambers has shouldered the majority of the load in the ruck in the Bombers’ two games this season, with key forward Shaun McKernan filling in when necessary.
But Clarke’s debut in the red and black against the Demons will give Bellchambers an important boost in support against Melbourne’s star ruckman Max Gawn.
“It gives Tommy Bellchambers a good hand in the ruck, we can probably ruck Zac more than we would have (Shaun) McKernan against Gawn,” Worsfold said.
“That will help ’T-Bell’, coming off two short weeks, get through the game at the really high level we expect him to as well.
“(The split in the ruck) will be measured on the day, we’ll see how things are tracking. But right at this moment I’d say it would be close to 50-50.”
Clarke impressed in his only pre-season match in the JLT Community Series against Carlton, gathering 15 disposals, 37 hit-outs and a goal.
He has continued to perform well since in the VFL side’s recent practice matches, and his ability to provide a strong target in the forward line could prove important on Friday.
Zac Clarke will become player No.1159 for the Bombers on Friday night. (Photo: AFL Media)
“Zac’s been in really good form, we had a look at him in the first JLT game and we were really happy with how he went in that game and his form subsequently has been really impressive.
“He moves really well and he’s been able to take marks in the forward line as well.”
Young midfielder Kobe Mutch has also been added to the side for his first senior game since round eight last year.
Worsfold said he has “no doubt” the athletic on-baller can take his game to the next level in 2019.
“He’s been awesome since he’s been at the club; (he has a) great work ethic and he showed enough last year to force his way into the line-up.
“He’s in good touch again, he had some setbacks early in the pre-season but he’s really ready to go and a good hard worker, a hard runner and we’re all rapt to have him back in the line-up.”
Key-position Bomber Mitch Brown and inside midfielder Kyle Langford have been omitted from the side and Worsfold said the pair missed out due to team balance off the back of two disappointing performances so far this season.
“It was really around balancing the team up. We obviously haven’t started brilliantly in the first two rounds, so this gives us a bit of a different look.
“Kobe Mutch has got the ability to play for longer periods outside of the contest, whereas with Kyle we’ve been training him up more as an inside player. It gives us a different look and also rewards players that are in really good form.
“(Brown) doesn’t have to do too much (to get back into the side), he’s actually been working really hard.
“(We want to see him) just maintaining the work rate that we see from him and being available if we decide to not use two rucks in future games, we need our other tall forwards in good touch.”
Melbourne has also failed to perform up to external expectations in the opening two rounds, first falling to Port Adelaide before suffering a heavy loss to Geelong last week.
With plenty on the line for both sides, Worsfold said he expects a tough contest against last year’s preliminary finalist as the Bombers look to get back on track.
“They’re a very good team, we know that; we’ve seen where they’re coming from last year. It’s an important game for both teams.
“It really shouldn’t make any difference to how you attack the contest, but we’re disappointed with round one and then we weren’t good enough to get the win last week.
“We need to play better, we need to maintain the work ethic that we showed last week, but finish our work off with a bit more polish.”
The first bounce is set for 7:50pm.
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