GEELONG coach Chris Scott will “disregard” West Coast’s form in the first half of the AFL season, instead preferring to focus on what the Eagles do at their best ahead of Saturday’s clash at Optus Stadium.
Sitting on the bottom of the ladder with just one win, West Coast has used a league-high 43 players in 2022 – Carlton is next highest at 37 – with COVID-19 and injury impacting Adam Simpson’s men.
However, the Eagles will take on a different look against the Cats, with Elliot Yeo (concussion/COVID), Dom Sheed (ankle), Liam Ryan (hamstring), Willie Rioli (hamstring), and Jeremy McGovern (back) all set to return.
“They’re going to have a much better team on paper than they’ve had all year, and the ins coming in are pretty daunting,” Scott told reporters on Thursday.
“The obvious approach to take is for us to assume is they’re going to be close to what they’ve been at their best and disregard what we’ve seen for the rest of the season.”
“It’s, in some ways, more challenging because we don’t think their recent history’s going to reflect the way game will be played on Saturday over in Perth,
Scott believes the inclusions make the Eagles “more formidable”.
“We’ll need to go back a little bit further and have a look at what the trio of (Tom) Barrass and (Jeremy) McGovern and (Shannon) Hurn have done at their best. I don’t think they’ve played together all year,” he said.
“(Willie) Rioli and (Liam) Ryan back along with (Jack) Darling and (Josh) Kennedy.
(Luke) Shuey’s been back, (Dom) Sheed’s played three in the WAFL, I think, and (Elliot) Yeo’s available.”
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Reigning Carji Greeves medalist Tom Stewart is right to go after suffering a concussion against the Western Bulldogs, while Sam Menegola will play his first AFL game of the year.
However, Patrick Dangerfield, who hasn’t played since the win over Port Adelaide in Round 10, won’t return until next week’s clash with Richmond.
“We did forecast a long time ago that the training we would like him to get in was arguably more important than his rehabilitation from his injury,” Scott said.
“He’s been training really well; we just don’t feel that going to Perth this week justifies the interruption to his training for the preparation for what will be the last nine games of the season for him.”
Defender Jack Henry is a chance to feature at either VFL or AFL level after being sidelined with a foot issue since Easter Monday.
Max Holmes and Esava Ratugolea are set to play in the VFL clash with Werribee at Chirnside Park on Saturday afternoon.
Click below for Chris Scott’s entire media conference.
Twitter: @tom_king79
