PATRICK Dangerfield will almost certainly play, but who joins the Geelong star as inclusions for Saturday’s MCG twilight clash with Richmond remains in the air.
Defender Jack Henry, big man Esava Ratugolea and speedster Max Holmes all made successful returns from injury layoffs in the VFL last week, while livewire forward Gary Rohan missed the win over West Coast under health and safety protocols.
“They’re the ones in the frame,” coach Chris Scott said. “It’s starting to get really tight with selection.
“But, again, I feel like I repeat myself a lot on this one – no one should look at our team week-by-week as a referendum on what our best 22 is.
“We try to take a more holistic view of the season.”
Dangerfield battled a calf issue through the first half of the season and hasn’t played since the win over Port Adelaide on May 21.
“Our plan’s been pretty conservative in terms of the injury management,” Scott said.
“It’s more been around getting enough work into Patrick, which he was denied earlier in the year.
“But, I must say, over the next 8-9 weeks to finish off the year, we won’t hesitate with any of our players to play it a bit more conservatively if that’s what the data is telling us.”
Shaun Higgins, a travelling emergency for last week’s trip to Perth, will play his first game since the Round 7 loss to Fremantle on April 30 in the VFL clash with Richmond on Sunday.
“We took Shaun with us as a travelling emergency on the basis that he’d done a lot of work and was available to play if something unforeseen happened over in Perth,” Scott said.
“But, we also had a skeleton staff; a few of our key people were missing.
“Shaun’s such an experienced guy and plays such an important role around our coaching and our program off-field that it was decided that that dual role for him was more important in that week than him playing VFL.”
“So, VFL for Shaun this week, and we’ll consider AFL after that.”
Former Hawthorn big man Jonathon Ceglar is “very likely” to play in the coming weeks as he works his way back from a broken foot suffered in the VFL clash against Collingwood on April 2.
“For the last couple of weeks, he’s got some continuity and been able to train pain-free,” Scott said.
“He has been moving around but hasn’t been able to turn the corner.
“We feel he has now, so a fortnight to three weeks, we think.”
Scott also revealed Sam Simpson is taking part in “managed contact training”.
“We’re optimistic he could see some footy in the next month.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
