Boasting a freshly signed senior contract, forward George Howard has made the 17-man squad for Melbourne Victory’s Round One match against Adelaide United, with NPL1 squad members Thomas Deng and Stefan Nigro also amongst those named.
In other news for the Victory, new signings Danny Vukovic and Ollie Bozanic also get the chance to make their A-League debuts with their new club as they tackle a tough away trip first up.
Archie Thompson of course misses through injury, as does centre-half Nick Ansell, while international duty keeps Jason Geria, Scott Galloway, Connor Pain and newcomer Giancarlo Gallifuoco out for the opening round fixture.
For cross-town rivals Melbourne City, Michael Zullo is the big inclusion against Sydney FC after injuries curtailed his pre-season, with internationals Thomas Sorensen & Bruno Fornaroli, former Northcote City midfielder Jason Trifiro and former Burnley defender Callum Richardson also amongst the mix.
NPL1 players Wade Dekker, Steve Kuzmanovski, Stefan Zinni and Hernan Espindola also make the squad, although two players will be omitted from the final line-up.
Veteran defender Aaron Hughes misses through international duty, as does Stefan Mauk, while injuries will keep Ivan Franjic, Harry Novillo, James Brown and Marc Marino out of action for some time still.
Corey Gameiro and Ben Garuccio are a chance to return from injury next week, but the trip to Sydney came around too soon.
There’s also room for Andy Brennan in Newcastle Jets’ 18-man squad (two to be omitted), while Daniel Heffernan misses the cut for Central Coast Mariners’ first outing.
Full squads here.