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NORTH Bendigo has brought the gun pair of Darcy Richards and Ben Knight back from injury for Saturday's Heathcote District league grand final against Colbinabbin at Huntly.
Richards returns from a lower leg fracture suffered against Colbinabbin in round 18 and Knight from a broken bone in his hand that he copped in the second semi-final loss to the Grasshoppers a fortnight ago.
The unlucky pair to make way for Richards and Knight are Mani Thalasinos and Jordan Collins, a Bulldogs' 2016 premiership player.
The inclusion of key forward Richards and midfielder Knight adds an extra dimension of firepower to the Bulldogs, with Richards having kicked 35 goals for the year and Knight 27.
"They will both have to train solidly tonight and then we'll make a decision," North Bendigo coach Matt Dillon said on Thursday afternoon.
"If it works out that they both come into the side then we'll be at absolute full strength, but that is then also going to create two really unlucky stories.
"As a coach I've got a soft spot for everyone and if I've got to tell someone that we can't fit them in for a grand final when they've played good footy, that's going to be really hard."
Colbinabbin will go into the game with an unchanged side to the one that defeated North Bendigo by 26 points in the second semi-final.
Meanwhile, in the North Central league, Riley Hogan, Fraser House and Stephen Paulke were all named as inclusions into the Birchip-Watchem grand final side to play Sea Lake Nandaly.
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