Geelong defender Jack Henry on overcoming foot injuries and the Cats’ stacked defence

Entering the year uncontracted and struggling for continuity, Jack Henry hasn’t missed a beat — or a game — this year. He opens up on his season and Geelong’s ‘tough’ call at selection.

Jack Henry has played almost as many games this season as he did in the previous two.

Henry underwent foot surgery three times in the space of 18 months from the start of 2022.

The defender’s main issue was his troublesome left foot, which forced him to go under the knife after Geelong’s Easter Monday clash with Hawthorn in 2022 and in the pre-season in 2023.

And when his left was looking the goods, the luckless Cat’s right foot was accidentally trodden on in round 21 of last season, tearing his Lisfranc ligament.

“The end of last year it was really unlucky the incident how I did my Liscfranc which was on the other side where I was having the issues on my left,” Henry said.

“I knew that my left side was fixed and going really well, and I took a bit of comfort out of the fact that it wasn’t my left side letting me down at all and also guys like Tommy Stewart, he has had an injury similar in the past and knowing that we have good people around to help me get through this rehab.”

Jack Henry flies for an intercept mark. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Starting the year as an eligible free agent, the 26-year-old faced a delayed start to the 2024 pre-season, but he hasn’t missed a beat — or a game — since then.

After missing 20 games and managing 28 appearances from 2022-23, Henry has played all 24 this year and put pen to paper on a four-year contract extension, tying him to the club until the end of 2029.

And he has hit his straps when it counts.

Henry has been an intercept force over the past two months, averaging 7.8 intercepts in his last seven matches – the seventh most in the AFL in that period – and 4.1 intercept marks.

“I feel the back-end of this year I have sort of found my form a little bit again. It is sort of hard sometimes to be always be at the top of your game, so I have taken a lot of confidence out of my last eight weeks or so that I can still do really good jobs out there,” Henry said.

“Not that I wasn’t feeling that, but everyone goes through rough patches here and there. But it going really well at the moment and confident in myself.”

The St Mary’s product expects to get either the in-form Joe Daniher or Eric Hipwood on Saturday evening.

He is no stranger to big jobs on the big stage at the MCG, either, having blanketed Sydney legend Lance Franklin in the 2022 grand final.

But it has been a team effort for the Geelong defence across the whole year, ranking first in the competition for their work without the footy according to Champion Data.

One successful change in recent weeks has been everywhere man Mark Blicavs’ shift into, shutting down Power spearhead Charlie Dixon in their qualifying final triumph.

It creates an unenviable decision for Chris Scott whether to pick 2022 premiership player Sam De Koning, who only came out of the side in round 19 due to a knee injury. He now has two games under his belt in the VFL, playing the majority of both games in the ruck.

Henry is just glad he doesn’t have to make the final call.

Sam De Koning at Cats training on Monday. Picture: Michael Klein

“Pretty tough one to answer, it is great that we have a really fit, healthy list. Injuries are pretty unlucky at this time of year but he is doing really well Sammy and whatever happens, confident in all our players that they can do a job,” Henry said.

“‘Blitzy’ is great how you can put him literally anywhere and he can do a really solid job. Earlier days in my career he was a really good defender and he was playing in defence alongside me and it has been almost reminiscent of a few older times.

“But he brings a lot anywhere he is on the ground and he is very impressive. And he also does his job in the ruck still as well, he must pull up after games feeling absolutely exhausted, I couldn’t imagine doing what he’s doing with the ruck and backline stuff. He is very impressive.”

One of the key differences to their last preliminary final in 2022 is doing it alongside his younger brother, Ollie.

“I probably don’t stop and smell the roses at this time of year, it is always sort of thinking short-term forward,” he said.

“But it is definitely going to be a nice thing to look back on playing with Ollie and it is exciting times that we get to share a journey like this.”

Originally published as Geelong defender Jack Henry on overcoming foot injuries and the Cats’ stacked defence