Essendon selectors have dropped a bombshell with vice-captain and 1999 Brownlow Medal runner-up Mark Mercuri being dropped for this weekend’s clash with Geelong. Mercuri seemed to have turned his form around following a best-on-ground performance against Hawthorn and his performances in the following three weeks were more than serviceable. But Mercuri was quiet against the Kangaroos and has paid the penalty. Steven Alessio was also omitted and Dean Rioli misses through suspension. James Hird, Jobe Watson and Joel Reynolds have come into the side.

Former teammate and now assistant coach Mark Harvey said that someone had to pay the penalty for the side’s inconsistency. “The easy option is to drop the kids. It’s a wake up call for the entire senior group,” Harvey said. “We have a full list to choose from at the moment and that puts pressure on everybody.”

The “ins” will create just as much talk as the “outs” at Essendon this week. Three famous Essendon names come into the side – Hird, Watson and Reynolds. As was revealed earlier in the week, Jobe Watson makes his much-anticipated debut for the side and has been named in a forward pocket next to Matthew Lloyd. Hird trained freely this week and put to rest some suggestions that his seaosn was over. He has been named on a half forward flank. Reynolds will start on the bench.

The Essendon side is:

Backs: McVeigh Fletcher Jacobs
Half Backs: Ramanauskas Lucas Wellman
Centres: Solomon Misiti McPhee
Half forwards: Hird Bolton J. Johnson
Forwards: Cupido Lloyd Watson
Rucks: Hille M. Johnson Bullen
Bench: Barnard Reynolds Peverill Welsh
Emerg: Alessio Richards McGrath