He's only in his second season at North Melbourne and has just 22 games to his name, but young gun Ryan Bastinac will make a highly anticipated return to football on Saturday night.

The 19 year-old has been named on a half-back flank to take on the Gold Coast after playing two games at VFL level.Senior coach Brad Scott told the media on Thursday he doesn’t believe a substitute role would suit the 2009 draftee, because of his elite aerobic endurance and general work ethic.

Bastinac suffered a pre-season injury setback in January after an innocuous training incident saw him undergo knee surgery, but five months on and he’s set to play an important role for the Roos.

Bastinac was one of the bargains of the 2009 draft and earned a NAB Rising Star nomination after just three rounds.Also back into the team is reliable defender Michael Firrito who missed the clash against the Crows after being suspended for a week for rough conduct against Sydney’s Ryan O’Keefe.

Firrito replaces Jamie Macmillan after the youngster suffered a horrific facial injury which required two steel plates and ten screws to repair.

He will miss the next four to six weeks.Kieran Harper is the other unlucky omission and will instead line up for Werribee on Sunday.Doubts over Leigh Adams’ knee have been eased with the hard-working midfielder cleared to play after getting through Thursday main training session.

Sam Wright, Ben McKinley and Harper have been named as emergencies.

Backs S.McMahon 42 L.Delaney 45 L.Greenwood 24
Half Backs R.Bastinac 28 S.Thompson 16 B.Rawlings 3
Centreline D.Wells 8 B.Harvey 29 S.Atley 18
Half Forwards L.Thomas 12 A.Edwards 27 B.Cunnington 10
Forwards L.Hansen 6 D.Petrie 20 J.Ziebell 7
Followers T.Goldstein 22 A.Swallow 9 L.Adams 13
Interchange L.Anthony 4 C.Pedersen 39 M.Firrito 11 B.Speight 46
Emergencies S.Wright 19 K.Harper 23 B.McKinley 26
In: M.Firrito , R.Bastinac
Out: J.MacMillan (Facial Fractures) , K.Harper (Omitted)