{"id":587283,"date":"2026-04-05T15:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/587283\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:26:09","slug":"afl-team-selection-experienced-duo-returns-for-duel-with-hawthorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/587283\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL Team Selection | Experienced Duo Returns for Duel with Hawthorn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n                Latest News\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__summary\">\n                Geelong has confirmed their starting line-up for Monday&#8217;s clash with Hawthorn at the MCG\n            <\/p>\n<p>Geelong has made two changes for their blockbuster Easter Monday clash, as they prepare to take on Hawthorn in their first game at the MCG for the 2026 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Off the back of a scintillating 38-disposal and three-goal performance in the VFL last week, silky midfielder Jack Bowes has earned a recall to Geelong&#8217;s AFL side and will feature in his first game at the top level this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Brad Close has also been selected after featuring in the VFL match against Box Hill last week, with the pressure forward creating plenty of chances for teammates and kicking a goal of his own in the victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mark O&#8217;Connor will be managed and comes out of the side that faced Adelaide in Round 3, with Jhye Clark the other omission after featuring in Geelong&#8217;s VFL win over Werribee on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Geelong are set to head up the highway for the first time this year, preparing to take on Hawthorn in the traditional Easter Monday clash at the MCG.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Cats will be looking to build on their back-to-back victories at home over Fremantle and Adelaide, before heading to Adelaide for Gather Round next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tickets are selling quickly for Geelong&#8217;s clash against Hawthorn at the MCG, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geelongcats.com.au\/matches\/match-day-guide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cats&#8217; Match Day Guide<\/a> for all ticketing information and general admission seating areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The match will be broadcast live on Channel 7 and Fox Footy while also streamed through Kayo, with coverage set to kick off at 3.00pm AEST ahead of the opening bounce at 3.15pm. K rock will also be covering all the action from 2.00pm at the MCG, tune in via 95.5FM, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geelongcats.com.au\/news\/1986037\/krockfootball.live\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">krockfootball.live<\/a> or the AFL app.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Latest News Geelong has confirmed their starting line-up for Monday&#8217;s clash with Hawthorn at the MCG Geelong has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-587283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}