Tyson Stengle could play minutes in Geelong’s VFL team as soon as Saturday, as his season-long absence from the game appears to be coming to an end.
The star small forward has reportedly been in the AFL’s medical model, dealing with an off-field issue, and hasn’t played since last year’s grand final loss to the Brisbane Lions.
Assistant coach James Kelly, who deputised for an unwell Chris Scott at the Cats’ weekly media conference, says a decision will be made as to whether Stengle plays against Gold Coast at GMHBA Stadium “over the next 24 hours”.
“I’m not across completely everything, but seeing how he’s been coming back into the club and the work he’s done to get himself back to this point is awesome,” Kelly said.
“We love Tyson, and he’s a brilliant person to have around the footy club. He’s a bit cheeky and a bit funny, and he smiles.
“So it’s good to see him back out on the track and just enjoying life. And if footy follows that, we’re really happy for him.”
Geelong will make at least one change to the team that lost to Adelaide last week, with Tom Stewart to miss at least the clash with the Suns after entering the AFL’s concussion protocol following an incident in the dying seconds of the clash with the Crows.
Emerging defender Lawson Humphries is a certainty to return.
However, whether young ruck Mitch Edwards is straight back after being managed last week remains to be seen, with Kelly admitting Sam De Koning’s performance against Adelaide raised more questions than it answered.
“One of the things when we’ve used ‘DK’ is we’ve used him centre bounce, and then he ends up behind the ball a lot or will sort of just play him as a defender and just get him to ruck the D50,” Kelly said.
“But certainly the way he played – and it wasn’t just on the weekend – his ruck form has been building over time.
“I think he had 10 clearances, and his follow-up work in the centre bounces was brilliant, so it does make us think a little bit differently about it.
“Mitch Edwards is obviously connected to that conversation as well. I think what it does for us and for ‘DK’ is it gives us confidence that, wherever we put him, we know that we can get a really good level of play from him.
“Hopefully, that gives him a lot of confidence, and we really trust him, and we trust his performance behind the ball, especially.
“But certainly, the ruck stuff. I would think in terms of it makes us a bit harder to play against if we don’t know where he’s going.”
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