Geelong looks set to rely on Mark Blicavs and Sam De Koning in the ruck for tomorrow night’s clash against Carlton at the MCG.
The Cats have made three changes, with veteran Rhys Stanley sidelined with a knee injury and young big Shannon Neale dropped.
They join midfielder Tanner Bruhn, who suffered a fractured scaphoid at training on Tuesday, in going out of the team that lost to Sydney before the bye.
Captain Patrick Dangerfield, livewire forward Ollie Henry, and veteran Zach Tuohy are the Cats’ inclusions.
Despite being listed as injured, Stanley and uncapped duo Lawson Humphries and Mitch Hardie are Geelong’s emergencies.
For Dangerfield, it’s his first appearance since the last meeting with the Blues in Round 7.
“I won’t say it’s been a slow build-up, but it’s been a long build-up,” coach Chris Scott said.
“He’s – in our mind – recovered from the hamstring injury pretty quickly.
“The last half of his time out from playing has been built around his conditioning program and making sure that when he did come back that, he was ready to perform really well.”
Scott admits that Bruhn’s loss caught Geelong by surprise.
“It was a real shock to us, the severity of that injury,” he said.
“It was a seemingly innocuous thing at training that he actually trained through.
“He had a precautionary scan afterwards, and it revealed the scaphoid fracture.”
Catch K rock Football from 6 pm Friday via FM 95.5 across Geelong and the Surf Coast, FM 88.0 at the MCG, or krockfootball.live.
X: @krockfootball
| Backs | 38. Jack Henry | 16. Sam De Koning | 8. Jake Kolodjashnij |
| Half Backs | 22. Mitch Duncan | 44. Tom Stewart | 39. Zach Guthrie |
| Centreline | 2. Zach Tuohy | 9. Max Holmes | 42. Mark O’Connor |
| Half Forwards | 45. Brad Close | 5. Jeremy Cameron | 32. Gryan Miers |
| Forwards | 18. Tyson Stengle | 26. Tom Hawkins | 36. Ollie Henry |
| Followers | 46. Mark Blicavs | 35. Patrick Dangerfield | 30. Tom Atkins |
| Interchange | 28. Ollie Dempsey | 23. Gary Rohan | 34. Oisin Mullin |
| 13. Jhye Clark | 12. Jack Bowes | ||
| Emergencies | 1. Rhys Stanley | 41. Mitch Hardie | 17. Lawson Humphries |
