Inexperienced duo Jackson Paine and Tom Young have both been omitted.
Hear more about the ANZAC Day selection on The Club at 9.30pm tonight on Fox Footy.
Brown has been selected to play his first AFL match since the 2010 Grand Final replay. He missed the entire 2011 season through a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a training accident in February. Brown’s rehabilitation suffered a setback when he split his right patella (knee cap) during a hike while on a mid-season training camp in Arizona in June.
The 23-year-old made his return for the club’s VFL team in round three, and has steadily improved with each match to the point where the club has deemed him ready for selection.
Watch Kirk Ugle discuss his promotion in the video above.
First-gamer Ugle has been selected off the back of some consistent VFL form that has netted him six goals in his three games so far this year. He managed 12 goals in 16 games last season after crossing from Western Australia. Ugle, 19, was drafted from WAFL club Swan Districts with selection No. 60 in the 2010 National Draft.
A product of Carey Park, Ugle stands only 172cm but has impressed with his pace and skill at ground level and commitment to harassing the opposition. He was held over as an emergency against Port Adelaide last week.
Ugle told collingwoodfc.com.au that tomorrow’s expected crowd of 90,000 will be far greater than any he has played in front of before.
“I haven’t played in front of a big crowd like that. The biggest crowd I’ve played in would probably be just over 15,000, maybe,” said Ugle.
Ugle becomes the 1096th player to represent Collingwood since the inception of the VFL competition in 1897.
He follows in the footsteps of teammates Travis Cloke (2005), Sharrod Wellingham (2008) and Brent Macaffer (2009), as well as former Magpies Jason Wild (1995), Craig Jacotine (1999) and Cameron Cloke (2004) as Collingwood players to have debuted on ANZAC Day.
The omitted duo of Paine (five disposals last week) and Young (eight disposals) have shown good form in both AFL and VFL competitions so far this year, reflected in Young’s retention as an emergency alongside Alan Didak and Cameron Wood.
Collingwood go into the match with a nine-seven lead head-to-head against Essendon since the first ANZAC Day match between the two sides in 1995 when the two sides played a draw.
Collingwood v Essendon
Wednesday 25 April
MCG, 2.40pm
B: Harry O’Brien, Lachlan Keeffe, Nathan Brown
HB: Simon Buckley, Nick Maxwell, Tyson Goldsack
C: Dane Swan, Sharrod Wellingham, Ben Johnson
HF: Paul Seedsman, Chris Dawes, Ben Sinclair
F: Dayne Beams, Travis Cloke, Alex Fasolo
Foll: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom
Int: Marty Clarke, Jarryd Blair, Alan Toovey, Kirk Ugle
Emg: Alan Didak, Tom Young, Cameron Wood
IN: Nathan Brown, Kirk Ugle
OUT: Jackson Paine (omitted), Tom Young (omitted)
NEW: Kirk Ugle (Swan Districts, WAFL)
