Ned McHenry will become the sixth Crow to make his first senior appearance in the tricolours after being named in Adelaide’s Marsh Community Series opener against Melbourne. 

The Crows have picked a 26-man squad for Saturday’s clash at Casey Fields, with 15 of those selected aged 24 or under.

Earlier on Thursday, Jordon Butts (20), Ben Crocker (23), Billy Frampton (23), Ben Keays (22) and Shane McAdam (24) were confirmed as starters in the pre-season fixture. 

Crows Head of Football Adam Kelly said it was significant for the Club to be able to unveil so many new faces in its first hit-out of 2020.

“We’ve selected a good balance of youth and experience for our first pre-season game,” he said.

“It’s exciting that 41 of the 43 on our list are healthy and ready to play with only Tom Doedee and Riley Knight unavailable over the next two weeks.

“We’ll expose six new faces, three of which have never played for the Club before in Ben Crocker, Ben Keays and Billy Frampton.”

After an impressive pre-season, Chayce Jones, 20, has been named to start in Adelaide’s midfield alongside the Crouch brothers and ruckman Reilly O’Brien.

A trio of 21-year-olds will form a youthful attack, with Elliott Himmelberg, Lachlan Murphy and Tyson Stengle all named in the forward line.

Wayne Milera and Bryce Gibbs have been named on half-back flanks in a backline marshalled by All Australian defenders Daniel Talia and Rory Laird. 

Tom Lynch is the most experienced player in Adelaide’s forward line, while captain Rory Sloane has been listed on an eight-man interchange.

Taylor Walker and Paul Seedsman will miss Saturday’s clash, with Kelly confirming the pair would be attending weddings this weekend.

“We’ve known about Taylor and Paul’s personal commitments for months and have planned their pre-season programs accordingly,” Kelly said.

“They’re both ready to go. Tex will play in next Friday night’s State of Origin game and Seed may be considered for the Under-23 trial game against Port Adelaide on Saturday.”

Brodie Smith has not been selected for the game against Melbourne ahead of his appearance in the State of Origin Bushfire Relief game, which Walker will also play in.

Emerging key talls Darcy Fogarty and Fischer McAsey are being managed, with both eyeing off the Under-23 trial at Thebarton Oval.

“It’s a long pre-season with plenty of football to come in the calendar, so we’re managing our players appropriately leading into Round One,” Kelly said.

“Fischer is still in his first pre-season and Darcy has recently overcome minor back and hamstring symptoms, so we’ll aim to play them next week and possibly again in the third week of the Marsh Series.”

The Crows will face the Demons at Casey Fields on Saturday with first bounce at 4.40pm AEDT (4.10pm ACDT). The game will be broadcast live on Kayo, Fox Footy and the AFL Live Pass.

Adelaide’s Marsh Community Series squad is:

B: L. Brown, D. Talia, R. Laird
HB: W. Milera, J. Butts, B. Gibbs
C: M. Poholke, M. Crouch, B. Keays
HF: S. McAdam, B. Davis, T. Lynch
F: T. Stengle, E. Himmelberg, L. Murphy
FOLL: R. O’Brien, B. Crouch, C. Jones
INT: J. Kelly, R. Sloane, D. Mackay, B. Crocker, R. Atkins, B. Frampton, N. McHenry, P. Wilson

Emergencies: K. Hartigan, W. Hamill, F. McAsey, L. Sholl