Collingwood will hand an AFL debut to young forward Kayle Kirby against Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday.

Kirby has kicked the most goals in the VFL this season with 42 majors from 16 games (alongside Port Melbourne’s Jordan Lisle), and has finally earned a call-up to the senior side.

The 19-year-old will replace Ben Reid in the 22, with Reid succumbing to general soreness.

Kirby was selected with the 50th pick of last season’s National Draft, and will become the third Pie to debut in 2017, after Callum Brown and Josh Daicos.

“Kayle arrived at Collingwood as a player with a lot of pure talent,” Collingwood’s general manager of football Geoff Walsh told collingwoodfc.com.au.

“To his credit, he has since worked tremendously hard to embrace the demands of the professional game and his form in the VFL, where he shares leading goal kicking honours, has been strong, consistent and often exciting.

“Tomorrow will be reward for a lot of hard work from Kayle, his coaches and the high performance team who have helped to prepare him for this moment.”