Hawthorn premiership hero Stuart Dew has been axed for Sunday's clash against Melbourne at the MCG for disciplinary reasons.

Dew, who played arguably the most important role in last year's shock grand final triumph against Geelong when he booted two goals and set up two others during his memorable third-quarter burst, has never previously been dropped by the Hawks since they revived his career by drafting him in the 2007 national draft following a year out of the game.

While the former Port Adelaide star played only 15 games last season in his first year with the Hawks, the 10 games he missed were as a result of injury - primarily hamstring problems.

Dew has also played all eight games this season but the 29-year-old has struggled to have an impact in recent weeks and has not gathered 20 disposals in a game since Round 3 against North Melbourne.

But he was axed primarily for being late to a training session this week following a trip to Sydney.

The Hawks also dropped Travis Tuck as injury-plagued youngster Beau Muston finally comes in for his AFL debut, having been drafted way back in 2005, while Cameron Stokes was also promoted.

The bottom-placed Demons made four changes and will be boosted enormously by the return of one of their best players in Brad Green, following a month out with a broken jaw, while key defenders Jared Rivers and James Frawley also return from injury.

Dumped from the side which lost narrowly to the Bulldogs last week were Lynden Dunn, Shane Valenti, Clint Bartram and Kyle Cheney.

Sydney made just one change for its home game against Port Adelaide with Nick Malceski in for Brett Meredith while Port regained Steven Salopek following a shoulder injury and promoted youngsters Matt Westhoff and Marlon Motlop with Jason Davenport, David Rodan and Nathan Krakouer the players to make way.

Brisbane has named a first-gamer in Tasmanian teenager Aaron Cornelius while Tim Notting also returns as the Lions face a tough task to replace injured key defenders Daniel Merrett (ankle) and Joel Patfull (broken jaw) for Sunday's match against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

The unbeaten Saints suffered a significant blow when they lost running defender Jason Gram to a thigh injury with his replacement being Raph Clarke.