GEELONG has ruled Gary Rohan out of Friday night’s clash with Adelaide with the livewire forward failing to overcome a concussion suffered in last week’s loss to Port Adelaide.
The Cats have made two changes for the meeting with the Crows. However, the return of young big man Esava Ratugolea isn’t among them.
After Geelong said he was close to playing against the Power but was kept on ice with a hamstring issue for another week, he will be missing again.
As well as Rohan, first-year ruck-forward Darcy Fort has been dropped.
Lachie Fogarty and Jed Bews will both play their first games of the season.
Fogarty had a delayed pre-season after off-season hip surgery, while Bews battled osteitis pubis having initially overcome shoulder surgery in September last year.
He is likely to get the first crack at star Adelaide forward Eddie Betts.
Teammate Zach Tuohy says stopping Betts requires a team approach.
“As much for the bloke playing on him, he can get a chop out,” Tuohy said.
“You can get real tunnel vision when you get given a job, and you just try and stick to it diligently. It can just be mentally refreshing for someone else to take that for a few minutes, or at least that’s what I’ve found.
“I’ve spent a lot of the early part of my career doing lockdown jobs, and it can weight you down mentally.
“It’s just going to be a matter of us looking after ourselves as opposed to worrying about him (Betts).”
Tuohy said the Crows would present a similar challenge to Port Adelaide, which snapped Geelong’s eight-game winning streak last week.
“They’re a quality side. We beat them earlier the year; they’d obviously beaten us in some big games prior to that,” he said.
“So, it’s normally a really even contest.
“If they hit their stride at the right time, I’m sure you are going to want to play them later in the year.
“We want to put ourselves in a position to give ourselves the best crack at September.
“This will be a big test because they’ll be there when the whips are cracking.”
K rock is live from 6 pm on FM 95.5 across Geelong and the Surf Coast, and via AFL.com.au or the AFL app.
Twitter: @tom_king79
AFL ROUND 15
GEELONG (1st) vs. ADELAIDE (6th)
GMHBA Stadium
Friday, June 28, 7:50 pm
[supsystic-tables id=’4′]
