GEELONG defender Jake Kolodjashnij has forecast a match-up with Sydney talisman Isaac Heeney in tomorrow’s AFL grand final.
Heeney caused all sorts of issues for the Cats in Round 2, kicking five goals and securing the three Brownlow Medal votes.
The 30-point loss at the SCG was the biggest of Geelong’s four defeats this year.
“He’s a quality player, and he’s probably the match-up most likely for me when he goes forward,” Kolodjashnij said.
“He had a really good game against us last time, so if I can limit his influence as best as possible, that’s going to go a long way to helping us win.”
With the Swans selecting three genuine tall forwards following the inclusion of Hayden McLean and veteran Sam Reid likely to play despite an adductor issue, Kolodjashnij believes Geelong can expose their first-time grand final opponent.
“We’ve got a really good running back six,” he said.
“We’ll probably try to run off our opponents as best as possible and really test him out.
“We’ve got a back six that can float around and mix and match, which is a good luxury to have.
“They’re a quality unit, and we’re going to play a team defence sort of approach.”
Kolodjashnij suffered a knee injury in the qualifying final win over Collingwood but overcame that to play one of the best games of his career in the preliminary final defeat of the Brisbane Lions.
He gathered a career-high 23 disposals and took nine marks as the Cats disposed of the Lions by 71 points.
“I was sort of under an injury cloud going into the game, so I just had the mindset to leave everything out there and just enjoy the moment,” he said.
“You don’t get opportunities to play in prelims that often, so I just put my best foot forward and took it in my stride.
“I got told I might be 50-50 to play, so I had the approach to just take it day by day and tick all the boxes.
“It was an awesome result in the end, and we gave ourselves an opportunity at the grand final.”
Twitter: @krockfootball
