I'd be really surprised if there was a debutant for Hobart. Katich should be right, so it's really just a matter of whether Hughes/North gets the chop. Right now I'd prefer Hughes, but North has a few arguments to aid his 'let him play out the series' case: keeping North means less disruption to batting order and continuity in the team, plus he can bowl and field in the slips (well at least he tries
. We'll see what the selectors value in the next few days.
I don't mind the Hughes at #6 idea though, it's good in theory as you've pointed out and traditionally all the good young guys started out at #6 eg. Ricky Ponting.