All the news ahead of Geelong’s round 23 clash with West Coast
A third key player has been added to Geelong injury list just a couple of weeks from finals but the Cats have played down severity of the latest setback.
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Geelong is certain veteran Mitch Duncan will be right to play in a qualifying final as he works through a minor hip injury.
The smooth-moving half-back was rested for round 22’s win over Gold Coast and won’t return on Saturday against West Coast, as the Cats manage his body.
But Geelong footy boss Simon Lloyd confirmed there was little concern about Duncan’s fitness for a qualifying final, which will come in two week’s time after next weekend’s pre-finals bye.
“We are taking the opportunity to make sure he is right to go for week one of the finals,” Lloyd said.
“The medicos expect no issues come that first final.”
The Cats are on track to get each of Duncan, Rhys Stanley (adductor) and Jeremy Cameron (hamstring) back for their first final.
Both Stanley and Cameron were back jogging this week after their respective injuries were deemed minor, while Duncan was in the club for Geelong’s main training session on Wednesday.
After a calf issue curtailed his pre-season, Duncan played every game between round 2 and round 21, taking on a new role as an attacking half-back.
The 31-year-old has been durable through most of his career, but suffered a knee issue that took out the middle part of his 2021 campaign.
He is a proven finals performer, having been Geelong’s best player in the 2020 finals series and a strong performer again last year.
Why Tyson Stengle ‘has to be All-Australian’
Goalsneak Tyson Stengle’s “staggering” season has left him with All-Australian backing from two veteran Geelong teammates.
The goalkicking forward was at his best in the opening term of Saturday’s comfortable win over Gold Coast, when he goaled with two spectacular snaps and took a pack mark to put three majors on the board before quarter-time.
The haul brought his season tally of goals to 42, the second most in the AFL this season among genuine small forwards, behind only Brisbane Lion star Charlie Cameron (47).
Stengle has been outstanding during Geelong’s 12-game winning streak, having kicked at least one goal in 11 of those matches and he has kicked multiple goals in each of the last five games.
An All-Australian in 2020, Cats star Cam Guthrie has marvelled at Stengle’s season and said he should be in the conversation for the team of the year.
“He is such a polished player and he is so good to have in our team,” Guthrie said.
“I didn’t know much about Tys before he came to the Cats. He impressed me with some of the things he was doing in pre-season at training and then he had a couple of good outings in the practice games and he was good in round 1, too.
“He always knows where the goals are, I feel like he plays on instinct which is probably getting rarer these days in the AFL.
“He has been outstanding for us this year.”
Defender Zach Tuohy said he worked out pretty quickly that he was best off not manning up on Stengle during pre-season as the former Crow and Tiger showed off his skills.
Tuohy said Stengle had been “electric” and “has to be All-Australian”.
“It is staggering,” Tuohy said of Stengle’s season.
“Obviously I am biased and that is fair enough but the bloke has to be All-Australian. The consistency of effort and the consistency of execution is just gold. He is outrageous.
“He came in and went about his business and won respect really early. You don’t get given games easily at our club and he won a round 1 position and now we are looking at an electric player.”
Danger feeling ‘the best I have felt’ before finals
Superstar Cat Patrick Dangerfield is feeling “the best I have felt at this time of the season” as the milestone man gears up for a shot as an elusive premiership.
Dangerfield will become the 99th player in VFL/AFL history to play 300 games when he takes on West Coast on Saturday, with a premiership medallion one of the few things missing from his stacked football resume.
The midfield dynamo has played just 14 games so far this year and will register the third-lowest games tally of his 15 season career after being carefully managed through calf issues.
He was a late withdrawal in round 21 before a win over St Kilda due to calf tightness but otherwise has played in six of the last seven matches.
Without having to handle the week-in-week out nature of bruising football for much of this year, Dangerfield said he was feeling strong heading to September, with his Cats clear on top of the ladder.
The eight-time All-Australian was cast as a forward in Geelong’s 2020 finals series due to injury issues and was interrupted last year because of suspension and ankle surgery.
“I am fortunate that this is probably the best I have felt at this time of the season to be honest,” he said.
“We have had a really strong year but for me it has been building and building over the last six weeks. The body is feeling great and I think that is the case for the vast majority of our players.
“We have really stuck to our guns on not pushing players when it wasn’t needed … it puts us in a great position and that doesn’t guarantee us anything but there is a really good feeling among the group.”
Dangerfield said only in his “wildest dreams” did he imagine playing 300 AFL games and the former Crow said it has been a “wonderful ride”.
“It is something I am very proud of and really it’s the people around you and the organisations (Geelong and Adelaide) that make it possible and playing with great players and great coaches, they are the ingredients that make it work,” he said.
Cats injured pair back on track
Geelong coach Chris Scott says the “things that have worked for us will continue to work for us” through September if his side can stick to its plan and carry its momentum towards a breakthrough premiership.
The Cats will not go through any “huge change” as finals approaches, after gunning through 12 straight wins to wrap up the minor premiership.
Star forward Jeremy Cameron (hamstring) and ruck Rhys Stanley (adductor) will miss Saturday’s last hitout before finals against West Coast, with Jonathon Ceglar “probably” set to take the ruck, according to Scott.
Veterans Isaac Smith and Mitch Duncan are “likely” to return after being managed last week but Scott said his coaching panel hadn’t decided whether to replace Cameron with another tall forward such as Shannon Neale or Esava Ratugolea, or go smaller up forward around Tom Hawkins.
There will be no significant adjustment to the Cats’ style however, as Scott said he was confident Geelong had done just about everything right to this stage of the season.
“(I am) never content, the aim at this time of the year is to give yourself the best chance,” he said.
“I think we have done that but we understand really clearly we need to continue to improve. The home-and-away season has given us a chance and now we need to find a way to keep improving our game.
“I don’t think the next six or seven weeks requires huge change from us. The things that have worked for us will continue to work for us if we continue to do them well, it is about trying to incrementally improve the next moment we are involved in.”
Scott said Cameron and Stanley had both improved since picking up their injuries in a win over the Gold Coast on Saturday.
“I am (confident of Cameron playing in a qualifying final) because the people who are looking after that are really confident,” Scott said.
“They were really confident the day or two after the game (Cameron) would be available for the first final and that case has only strengthened in the last day or two. It is the same with Stanley, those two are right on track.”
Cameron jogged a light lap before training on Wednesday morning, while Stanley was also jogging away from the group.
Defender Jake Kolodjashnij began the session sitting in the dugout with a surgical mask on, with the Cats extra cautious as he dealt with a light cold.
Rooke opens up on hamstring demons Cameron may face
Geelong superstar Jeremy Cameron will likely have to deal with mental demons about his injured hamstring as he fights to be fit for finals, according to dual premiership Cat Max Rooke.
Rooke was famously sent over to Germany in the back half of the 2007 season for treatment on his hamstrings and returned to play in Geelong’s drought-breaking flag but the hardman said he struggled to push himself physically on his road back to the side.
The Cats said they “expect” Cameron to be fit to play in Geelong’s qualifying final in the first weekend of September after he suffered a “low grade” strain against Gold Coast on Saturday.
The goalkicking star has a history of soft tissue issues and missed the first six weeks of last season with a hamstring complaint.
Rooke didn’t play between round 13 and the qualifying final in 2007 and said working back from a soft tissue injury on the eve of September was a difficult mental battle.
“It can be really tough, especially this close to finals,” he said.
“I was lucky in a way because when I really hurt it, the major one I had, it was round 13 so it was a really bad one but I had a fair bit of time to get over it and mentally prepare for (my return) as well.
“I still remember when I first did come back, it was just constantly there in the back of your mind, you are just hoping it doesn’t go again.”
Speaking in June, Cameron said his hamstring woes were “behind me” and admitted even when he returned to the field last season he “just couldn’t quite get going”.
Rooke, who was unveiled as the new coach of CDFL club Otway Districts this week, said once he found confidence at training he was able to “let it go” and trust in his body, a level Cameron will need to reach as a key figure in Geelong’s premiership hopes.
“It can be a really tough battle but I think once you build your strength back up at training there comes a point where you just mentally have to let it go and whatever happens, happens,” he said.
“I was able to get to that point eventually but it took me a really long time. It is probably a different situation to what he is dealing with.
“You put a lot of trust in the people around you who are advising you on what the right things to do are and how hard to push yourself. Sometimes trying to stay within those limits can be quite difficult.”
‘Spring chicken’ Tuohy keen for new contract
Out-of-contract Cat Zach Tuohy says he is feeling like a “spring chicken” and would be keen to sign a new deal “sooner rather than later”.
Having shrugged off a sore knee that hampered his 2020 season, the rebounding defender has returned to his consistent best in 2022 and has played every game except a round 20 clash against the Western Bulldogs he missed due to Covid.
Tuohy is one of several veterans without deals locked in for 2023 – a list that includes Joel Selwood, Isaac Smith and Tom Hawkins – and he will retire if the Cats don’t offer him a new contract.
But the affable Irishman joked he would sign a four-year deal if he could and said he was confident he deserved another go around.
Geelong has been happy to wait to have discussions with his veteran cohort later in the year about 2023, with a premiership run on the horizon.
“I’m happy to wait but I would like to get it done sooner rather than later,” Tuohy said.
“I think it’s a positive at the minute. I have gotten through things this season a lot better than I have in past seasons.
“Physically I am feeling up to it, it’s just whether or not my performance is up to it and if it is not, that is fine and I can understand it, these things don’t always pan out.
“I will be pushing for a four-year contract, I’m not sure if I will get it over the line but I will take it if they offer it to me.”
After missing the Dogs win, Tuohy returned straight away to face St Kilda in round 21 and while he was influential with 22 disposals and a goal, he admitted he battled coming off Covid.
He said he was blowing hard in the first quarter of the win but was better off for the run.
“It is hard to catch your breath and you tend to be a bit weaker than you feel normally,” he said.
“I knew if I could play and contribute I would feel better for it in the long run because if I didn’t play (against St Kilda) and obviously I didn’t play the Doggies game, that would be probably three weeks without footy and that is not ideal coming into the finals series.”
Jeremy Cameron suffers hamstring setback
Superstar forward Jeremy Cameron has begun a race against time to be fit for Geelong’s first final after scans confirmed a “low level” hamstring injury.
The goalkicking ace came to the bench late in Saturday’s comfortable win over Gold Coast complaining of soreness in his troublesome hamstrings and scans showed a strain.
Cameron was expected to embark on a final-round assault on the Coleman Medal given he sits three goals behind leader Charlie Curnow, but those plans have been squashed and he will now face a three-week campaign to be fit for a qualifying final.
Geelong medical boss Harry Taylor said the Cats “expect” Cameron to overcome the setback and play in the first week of September.
Hamstring woes curtailed Cameron’s debut season with Geelong last year and he didn’t play until round 6.
The 2019 Coleman medallist was desperate to put his injury issues behind him and play every game in 2022, something he was on track to do until this week.
Further setbacks on the forward’s hamstring could be a brutal blow to Geelong’s premiership hopes, with the Cats raging favourites thanks in part to Cameron’s All-Australian-level season.
Taylor said the outlook for Cameron was good, despite the injury.
“Jeremy Cameron came to bench late in the final quarter of Saturday’s game against the Gold Coast after reporting some low-level hamstring symptoms, we chose to take a no risk policy and decided not to have him return to the field,” Taylor said.
“Jeremy has assessed well, and scans (on Monday) have confirmed low level fluid consistent with a minor strain. We will track his progress through the week and he will be managed according to benchmark measures. We expect Jeremy to be ready for our first final.”
Ruck Rhys Stanley will join Cameron in pushing for a return to the side for a qualifying final, after scans confirmed a “low-grade” adductor strain.
Stanley was subbed out of the Gold Coast victory and is set to miss round 23’s game against West Coast but Taylor said the big man was also expected to be available by finals.
Fellow tall Jonathon Ceglar is on track to replace Stanley in the ruck against the Eagles, having progressed through concussion protocols.
Luckless midfielders Sam Simpson and James Willis have both picked up quad strains and will miss at least two weeks, which is likely to end their seasons given the Geelong VFL side will miss finals.
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