Collingwood has dumped goalsneak Paul Medhurst for Saturday night's second AFL preliminary final against Geelong just a year after he was named in the All Australian team.
As mystery continued to surround the Magpies line-up, coach Mick Malthouse also named star midfielder Scott Pendlebury in the 22 less than a fortnight after he appeared to suffer a season-ending cracked fibula during the Pies' qualifying final loss to St Kilda.
As the Cats named a full-strength side with both 2007 Norm Smith Medalist Steve Johnson and hardman Max Rooke returning from injury, the Pies will leave everyone guessing as to their final line-up with No.1 ruckman Josh Fraser and impressive first-year player Dayne Beams both named as emergencies.
But in contrast to the guessing games surrounding the Magpies line-up - St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs both named unchanged sides for Friday night's first preliminary final.
That meant there was again no place in the Saints side for veteran full-back Max Hudghton - the only survivor from the club's last grand final appearance in 1997 - with the 33-year-old not even named as an emergency.
As Luke Ball and Robert Eddy kept their places in the 22 - with Sean Dempster, Jack Steven and David Armitage named as emergencies - Hudghton was again overlooked despite a huge public campaign in his favour with former Saints coaches Grant Thomas and Stan Alves leading the calls for his inclusion this week.
The Dogs also went for stability, following last week's semi-final win over Brisbane, meaning no recall for Tom Williams - who was named as an emergency after resuming in the VFL last week following a foot injury.
Meanwhile the Pies will give Fraser and Pendlebury every chance to prove their fitness and it seems inconceivable that if Fraser is fit he would not be in the Pies' final line-up given his long-time status as the club's best ruckman.
Fraser has been battling continual knee soreness since being injured playing for Victoria in last year's Hall of Fame game but the Pies will give him every chance to prove his fitness considering how costly his absence proved in this corresponding game against the Cats in 2007.
On that night, as the Pies were forced to field the inexperienced ruck combination of Chris Bryan and Guy Richards, the Cats' experienced No.1 ruckman Brad Ottens produced a career-best performance to play the key role in the Cats' five-point win in the 2007 preliminary final.
Ottens will play just his third senior game since returning from a knee injury that sidelined him since Round 2 while Rooke returns from a thigh injury sustained in Round 22 and Johnson is back just three weeks after undergoing hip surgery.
It will be just Johnson's fourth game since Round 13 and his first since Round 20 but is a huge boost to the Cats' chances as Simon Hogan (omitted) and Mathew Stokes (groin soreness) were the players to make way.
Geelong vice-captain Cameron Ling said there were no doubts about Johnson and Rooke returning this week.
"They (Johnson and Rooke) both trained fully and trained well," Ling said on Thursday.
"Stevie was running around like a little kid, he was loving being back out there and feeling good."
A fit Johnson is a huge boost to the Cats considering that he kicked 37 goals in the first 13 rounds as the Cats remained unbeaten but since then has kicked just two goals in three games as the Cats have won just six of their past 10 matches during the time he has battled injury.
But the 2007 premiers and last year's runners-up now have managed to get their best team on the park when it most counts after an injury-riddled second half of the season with in fact just three changes between their preliminary final team of this year and the one which faced Collingwood two years ago with Tom Hawkins, Travis Varcoe and Harry Taylor replacing the retired Nathan Ablett, knee victim Josh Hunt and the injured Stokes.
Medhurst meanwhile was dropped after managing just four touches during last week's semi-final win over Adelaide while his haul of 22 goals in 18 games this season is a far cry from last year's career-best season when he booted 50 goals in 24 matches.
The former Docker was not even named as an emergency and appears unlikely to come back into the side even if Pendlebury is a late withdrawal.