Grya Miers will make his first AFL appearance in six weeks when Geelong faces St Kilda at GMHBA Stadium on Thursday night.
Coach Chris Scott has confirmed the 27-year-old, who is playing with a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament, will return to the Cats’ lineup after three matches in the VFL, where he has averaged 27 disposals.
Against Richmond at the weekend, Miers had 24 disposals, kicked three goals, and laid ten tackles.
Miers’ three-match stint in the VFL, either side of the bye, has had some scratching their heads at his AFL absence.
“I guess it’s more confusing for you than it is for us because I don’t explain it in any detail – and don’t have any intention to,” Scott said.
“But, we’ve been really happy with the way sort of things have progressed,
“I’m breaking my own rule here and sort of talking about selection before we actually select the team
“But I’ll be open on this one… yes, he will play.
“That’s in a really good spot for him and us, in my opinion.”
The absence of Jeremy Cameron, who will undergo surgery on his AC joint later this week, means at least one for Geelong, which has lost five of its past six outings and is now sitting in a Wildcard position.
There is a level of optimism that Tanner Bruhn (neck) and Jack Henry (throat), who both ended up in hospital following the loss to the GWS Giants, could be available.
While Mark O’Connor, who was a late withdrawal on the weekend, is also a chance to play.
Scott says the five-day break between games had already been factored into Geelong’s planning.
“We’ll make some changes this week. largely because that was sort of the macro planning that we’d done anyway,” he said.
“It was always likely that it would be good policy for us to make some changes coming into this game.
“But again, it’s a good example of, ‘You can lay out this beautiful plan that looks awesome in a spreadsheet. But then things happen, and you need to adapt a little bit’.
“So it wasn’t my plan to not have Jeremy, but we think on our feet.
“But I think in general, whether they’re forced changes or not, it was unlikely we were going to play the same team this week as we played last week.”
Uncapped 2024 draftee Jay Polkinghorne is in the mix to make his debut after kicking 5.3, gathering 19 disposals, and taking ten marks in the VFL on Saturday.
It was his best return from 23 matches at state league level since arriving at Geelong, and gave the South Australian 16 goals from five outings since returning from an early-season foot injury.
“But it’s more than just the recent body of work,” Scott said.
“He had an injury, which slowed his progress quite a bit. He was on a really good trajectory even early in the season.
“If even I refer back to our pre-season games, where he was in the team and was performing well.
“I apologise for it a little bit. But the reality of our situation is we do tend to make those guys work for it a bit, and we think that there is a very strong case to be made for a thorough apprenticeship in the VFL. S
“So on that basis, there’s a good case to be made that he’s served that apprenticeship.
“It doesn’t guarantee he’s going to play this week, but he’s been in our thoughts a lot over the last month or so, so it’s not unusual that he would be brought up again”
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