All the news out of the Geelong camp ahead of opening round blockbuster
Geelong is hoping for a record 90,000-strong crowd on Friday night and public tickets are sold out. The latest forecast is in.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Geelong remains hopeful it can end a 13-year record and break through a crowd barrier of 90,000 for the first time in a home-and-away game ahead of a Friday night blockbuster against Collingwood.
Public tickets to the hotly-anticipated opening round clash have sold out and a forecast made on Thursday afternoon expected a crowd of beyond 83,000 at the MCG.
Geelong has never played in front of a home-and-away crowd beyond 90,000, with its record currently the 88,115 who watched a clash with the Magpies in 2010.
The club's record for a home match in the regular season is 87,653, against Essendon in 1989.
Geelong chief executive Steve Hocking said Cats fans “know the magnitude” of the game.
A lap of honour will take place at 7.15pm on Friday, 25 minutes before the bounce, for retired legend Joel Selwood.
“Geelong people know the magnitude of (the) occasion,” Hocking said.
“To be part of a record-breaking crowd and farewell and thank one of our Club’s greatest ever champions as he does a lap of honour around the field where he led us into the history books – you can’t miss that opportunity.”
While public tickets have been sold out, Geelong general admission members can walk up to the game.
Selwood backs Dangerfield to play on for four more years
Retired Geelong captain Joel Selwood believes his successor Patrick Dangerfield could play for another four years, putting the champion in line to reach 400 AFL games.
Dangerfield this week will become just the fifth person to play 150 games for two different clubs when he leads the Cats out against Collingwood.
While the Brownlow medallist has shown some signs of wear and tear in recent years – playing 16 games in 2021 and 18 in 2022, his two lowest tallies since his first season in the league – Selwood backed the Gary Ayres medallist to play until his was 36.
The former Adelaide midfielder has notched 303 games and four more complete seasons could take him into rare company of 400-games, a club with just five members.
“I think that he could have four (years left) but I am hopefully he still has four because I want to go back to the footy and watch the Cats win,” Selwood told SEN.
“He has the ability he can play over the ground in many positions – I probably wouldn’t put him down back because he hasn’t manned up since he got to the footy club – but we will keep hope that he can be around for a long time.”
Selwood declared Dangerfield would be an “exceptional” captain and could have “done the role for a long period of time”.
“It was important we could squeeze the best out of his footy career without having to worry about the extra things you have to do but he will manage all of those things fine,” Selwood said.
Selwood will juggle a role in Geelong’s commercial team with a gig guiding Melbourne Storm’s leadership structure.
He said he has had discussions with Australian male cricket coach Andrew McDonald about joining the side during the upcoming Ashes series but it yet to commit to a role.
Selwood will lead Cats fans on a walk from Flinders Street Station to the MCG before Geelong’s clash with Collingwood on Friday night before walking a lap of honour with the premiership flag from 7.15pm.
Hawkins set for Collingwood blockbuster
A “ripping month” means Geelong superstar Tom Hawkins will face Collingwood in Friday’s opening round blockbuster but his experienced teammate Mitch Duncan won’t be sighted in the early rounds.
Recruit Jack Bowes will also miss the MCG blockbuster, with fellow new faces Tanner Bruhn and Ollie Henry to make their Cats debut.
Written off in some quarters, Hawkins was in line to play a month ago after off-season foot surgery, according to coach Chris Scott, and only enhanced his chances as pre-season came to a close.
“He’ll play,” Scott said on Thursday.
“That was my suspicion probably about a month ago and he had a ripping month.
“We don’t necessarily expect him to be as good round 1 as he will be as the year evolves but he is will and truly good enough to play and the last month has given us great confidence.”
A calf issue picked up late in the summer months saw Duncan fly to Adelaide recently for treatment and the Cats will hold him back in the opening weeks to keep a long-term view on his season.
Scott said the cautious approach with Duncan reminded him of the way the club handled Patrick Dangerfield early last season before the champion won the Garry Ayres Medal as best player in the finals series.
“Mitch Duncan could probably play as well but he is different to Hawkins in that he is more of a 15-16km (runner in a game) who is a bit different (to Hawkins),” Scott said.
Bowes sat out Geelong’s official practice match against Brisbane due to calf soreness and will not make his club debut in round 1 but Scott declared the former Gold Coast player
“He has really had a flawless pre-season right up to the point where he just had a little bit of a calf issue,” Scott said.
“We are confident he could have played this week as well, so much so that he will definitely play next week.”
How Esava set himself up for big year after passing tough test
Born-again Geelong defender Esava Ratugolea has already passed one of the biggest tests in football before the season has even started with star teammate Jeremy Cameron declaring him “really hard to play on”.
The athletic Ratugolea was first thrown from his forward-ruck role to defence in the backhalf of last season and performed well in a one-off appearance at AFL level, against West Coast in round 23.
He has since spent the entire pre-season down back and appears certain to line up against Collingwood on Friday night after two strong practice match outings.
Geelong’s forwards have remarked over summer just how difficult Ratugolea is to match up on, given his size and athleticism and All-Australian Cameron was forced to work hard to get a kick in match simulation.
“He has been really hard to play on, coming up against him a number of times in the pre-season, he has been really difficult,” Cameron said.
“We know how tall he is, he loves flying at the footy and he backs himself. He has really been backing himself to go and mark the footy, that is one of the harder things to do when you are playing as a backman but he loves to fly at it.”
At the other end, Cameron declared recruit Ollie Henry was “a really exciting player” ahead of the youngster’s first match against old side Collingwood.
“He loves leaping at the ball and has no fear in the air which is different and has really stood out over pre-season,” Cameron said.
The Cats stepped out for a main training session on Tuesday, with Mitch Duncan back from his sojourn in Adelaide.
He began the session running away from the group as he works on a sore calf.
Midfielder Sam Menegola watched the beginning of training from the interchange bench with strapping on both of his knees after he underwent knee surgery recently.
Meanwhile, Cam Guthrie has shedded his trademark dreadlocks for a short-back-and-sides look.
Jez open to leaving Collingwood blockbuster at halftime
Goalkicking ace Jeremy Cameron says he is open to leaving Geelong’s opening round blockbuster against Collingwood at halftime if he receives word his partner Indi is in labour.
The superstar forward is no clearer to knowing if he will pull out of Friday’s match after being clear with the club throughout pre-season that he wouldn’t play if the game clashes with the birth of his first child.
Cameron said he was in a “waiting game” just days out from the Magpies meeting.
“I have been pretty clear with the club and we have spoken about it a fair bit and if that (labour) sort of happens then I won’t be able to play,” he said on Tuesday morning.
“But I am happy to go to the game and it is all looking normal (at the moment).
“Right now it is completely normal and it is a waiting game. That is the hard thing about it, you never know when it will come. I am just going to prepare and play and I will put the boots on.
“If the call comes at halftime then that will be a decision that has to be made then.”
Cameron was the key figure in Geelong’s two thrilling wins over Collingwood last year, with the left-footer best on ground in both games, including a pulsating qualifying final.
The door remains open for Geelong to miss both of its two spearheads, with veteran Tom Hawkins still racing to clock to recover from foot surgery by Friday night.
Cameron said he wasn’t sure if his running mate would line up alongside him against Collingwood.
“I haven’t really spoken too much about that with the coaches,” he said.
“Tom is training really well and hopefully we are both out there but if we’re not – I’m sure they have looked at it a few times throughout the week.
“We have some backmen that can go forward, we have new guys coming in and we have guys that play different roles coming in.
“Hopefully it doesn’t play out that way (with Hawkins missing) but if it does, it will be a bit of a different looking forwardline.”
Ahead of Geelong’s first match of the season, Cameron said his Cats “definitely don’t lack in motivation” as they prepare to defend their premiership.
More Coverage
Originally published as All the news out of the Geelong camp ahead of opening round blockbuster
‘It didn’t look good’: Swans fear worst after Gulden’s ankle twist
Sydney superstar Errol Gulden was rushed to a nearby hospital for scans last night after he leg was trapped under a tackle. Here’s the latest from another night full of injuries.
Buckley: Why Pies will beat Blues ‘battlers’ to finals berth
The finals race is set to be more competitive than ever this year. Collingwood great NATHAN BUCKLEY explains why Carlton and Port Adelaide will miss out and reveals his top-eight prediction.