The Sydney Swans have named three debutants for Friday night's grand final rematch against the Western Bulldogs, with coach John Longmire forced to dig even deeper into his playing list to patch up a team decimated by early season injuries.
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Defender Nic Newman has earned his first AFL start to cover for Dane Rampe who broke his arm on a morning run earlier this week, while Robbie Fox and Will Hayward will both play in place of Dan Robinson (broken collarbone) and Dean Towers (omitted).
They'll become the second, third, and fourth debutants this season for last year's beaten grand finalists, following in the footsteps of Oliver Florent who has retained his spot after playing in last weekend's shock loss to Port Adelaide at the SCG.
Key defender Aliir Aliir was overlooked but has been named to play in the reserves this weekend, while Jarrad McVeigh (calf), Isaac Heeney (glandular fever), Tom Papley (knee) and Gary Rohan (back) are still sidelined.
Newman joined the Swans via the rookie draft at the end of 2014, while Hayward was the Swans' second selection in last year's national draft. Fox landed on the list late last year as a rookie.
"They've had a taste of what it's all about, they don't come in wondering what's about to hit them," Longmire said.
"They know the pressure is on, they know we're playing an A-grade team and I'm sure they'll enjoy their experience as long as they play a real hard, fierce game of footy."
Longmire is desperate for a response from his under-pressure charges who were no match for Port Adelaide last weekend, beaten by 28 points.
The margin in last year's grand final was 22 points, but only 14 of the Swans who played in that game will front up again on Friday.
Rampe, Heeney, Papley, McVeigh and Rohan all played in that game, as did Tom Mitchell, Ben McGlynn and Xavier Richards who have left the club.
Swans assistant coach Stuart Dew said the grand final loss would not be a motivating factor.
"We're pretty focused on trying to get on the board for this year after last week's disappointment," Dew said. "If you're relying on motivation from years gone by it's pretty ordinary. We're playing for this year, we're a different team and so are they.
"It certainly hurts and the fact is because you don't get it back, but once the ball's bounced guys aren't thinking about last year or even last week. They're pretty focused on the coming game.
"We'll back our guys, they generally respond, so we look for that. It's pretty exciting whenever there's debutants."
Sam Reid will play his 100th game for the Swans, while Tom Liberatore also hits the century mark for the Bulldogs.
