All the news as Geelong prepares to face Gold Coast in round 3
A forgotten ruck will line up for just the fourth time for Geelong this weekend as a premiership forward was left out of the side.
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Jonathon Ceglar has been named to play just his fourth game for Geelong after Rhys Stanley failed to get up for Sunday’s clash with the Gold Coast.
Stanley was listed by the club as “managed” in the 22 named on Friday after picking up a rib injury, with Gary Rohan also left out as “managed”.
Defender Tom Stewart’s miraculous recovery remains on track as he was named in the side just one game after suffering a grade 2 medial injury to his right knee, while fellow back Jake Kolodjashnij has not made the 22 as he returns from concussion.
Youngster Cooper Whyte remains an emergency after coming on at three quarter-time in his first AFL game last week, when he started as the medical sub.
Star goalkicker Jeremy Cameron was listed in the side to face the Suns, despite carrying sore ribs and the impending birth of his first child.
Ceglar, a 100-game ruck at Hawthorn before crossing to Geelong last year, appeared in three games for the Cats late in 2022, including one game where he was an unused medical sub.
Cats coach Chris Scott said Geelong was keen to get Ceglar into the side early in 2023.
“Irrespective of the status of Rhys and our other ruckmen, that has been an enticing option for us to get him in,” Scott said. Former Cat Charlie Constable as one of three Suns dropped for the game, with Constable one of Gold Coast’s emergencies.
Midfield ‘not where we want it to be’: Chris Scott
Geelong coach Chris Scott has acknowledged his midfield is “not where we want it to be" and the Cats are “trying to get as good as we can straight away” ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Gold Coast.
The tarmac could quickly run out for the Cats premiership defence if they fall into a 0-3 hole on Sunday, with a sluggish start by the vaunted Geelong midfield partly to blame for losses to Collingwood and Carlton.
While Joel Selwood has retired, the premiership winning nucleus of Geelong’s engine room otherwise remains in tact.
Scott said his coaches have faith in the group to fire against a Gold Coast midfield led by Touk Miller, Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell.
“We know (our midfield form) is not where we want to be and we are not pacing ourselves through the season, we are trying to get that as good as we can straight away,” he said.
“We are also not panicking into rash decisions based on a really small sample.”
Arguably Geelong’s most consistent midfielder of the last three seasons, Cam Guthrie has started the season slowly, gathering just 15 disposals in round 1 before an Ed Curnow tag forced him to defence last week.
Scott said Guthrie was not dealing with any injury concerns and had simply not been at his best to start the year.
“He is in a group of guys who haven’t played their best games in the first couple of rounds,” Scott said.
“We have a lot of confidence in what he can do. He is one of the guys who is not limited by a compromised pre-season or legacy injury issues.”
New captain Patrick Dangerfield has also had a quiet start by his standards.
He has been on field for 66 per cent of the opening fortnight, slightly down on his average during last year’s finals of 76 per cent, but Scott said there was no plan to limit his minutes.
Scott said the Cats knew the stakes of potentially falling to a 0-3 record on Sunday.
“It’s a big game, I can’t remember going into a game in my time here thinking ‘this one doesn’t really matter that much’, they all matter equally,” he said.
Kolodjashnij cleared but Stanley in doubt for Gold Coast trip
Geelong is set to receive some much-needed defensive support ahead of its trip to the Gold Coast, with Jake Kolodjashnij set to return but ruck Rhys Stanley’s sore ribs will be tested this week.
Stanley copped a knee to the ribs from Carlton big man Tom De Koning in Thursday night’s loss and was subbed out of the game, with De Koning later fined for the hit.
The premiership ruck has been on light duties in the early part of the week and will be put through his paces at Geelong’s main session on Thursday.
Backup Jonathon Ceglar took five marks and had a game-high 19 hitouts in Geelong’s VFL win last week, while midfielders Brandan Parfitt and Sam Simpson also performed well.
Like Stanley, star forward Jeremy Cameron is nursing sore ribs and is awaiting the imminent birth of his first child, throwing into doubt his availability for the Suns clash on Sunday.
“He is in a positive frame of mind,” Geelong footy boss Simon Lloyd said of Stanley.
“We will see what he is like in a couple of days time (on Thursday).”
Kolodjashnij has not been sighted since he picked up a head knock in Geelong’s pre-season clash with the Brisbane Lions.
The defender has stepped into contact training and shapes as an inclusion for the Cats, offsetting missing defenders Tom Stewart (knee), Mitch Duncan (calf) and Jack Henry (foot).
The Cats will confront tall Suns forwards Ben King and Levi Casboult on Sunday, while Mabior Chol kicked three goals in the reserves last week.
“Kola is progressing through the contact sessions. He is completing all the running and skill work, we expect him to be available once he gets the medical tick off,” Lloyd said.
Stewart has stepped up his running this week and could target a return on Easter Monday against Hawthorn, while Duncan should also return to the field that weekend.
Youngsters James Willis and Flynn Kroeger will continue to build up their fitness levels after both having hip surgeries in December.
Both in the second year on Geelong’s list, Willis and Kroeger had their 2022 campaigns hit by injury and are yet to get a good run at game time in the hoops.
“With both we are looking at the bigger picture,” Lloyd said.
Guthrie brushes off premiership hangover talk
Matthew Forrest
Cats defender Zach Guthrie says there is no concern in the Geelong camp after slumping to a 0-2 start in the 2023 season, with no fears of the dreaded ‘premiership hangover’.
Geelong has lost its opening matches to Collingwood and Carlton at the MCG and will travel to Heritage Bank Stadium to face the winless Gold Coast Suns on Saturday.
Guthrie said there was no reason to worry about Geelong’s slow start to the year.
“I think as a team we are hungry as ever. Last season obviously with the success we had that was awesome, but I think we are all keen to try and put in some really good performances again,” he said.
“Every team would like to be 2-0 but it is a tough competition, footy is a hard game and you are not going to get everything right throughout the whole 120 minutes of a game.
“That’s the exciting thing, there’s always another game ahead to try and rectify some of the things that we didn’t quite do as well as we would have liked.
“For patches of the game, we have looked like we’ve been close to our best, we’ve just got to try and do a few more of those things a bit more consistently throughout the game and there is another challenge this week in Gold Coast to be able to do that.”
Geelong trailed by as many as 28 points in the third quarter of Thursday’s clash with the Blues, before a 3.4 to 1.1 final quarter had the Cats within striking distance of Carlton.
The Cats will now face a fellow winless side in Gold Coast, with new Cat Jack Bowes set to return to his old club for the first time.
Guthrie said Bowes’ first game was full of promise.
“I thought he was great, I thought he did some really good things,” he said.
“He’s a really skilful players, he’s had a really good preseason where he’s played a number different roles.
“The opportunity opened up for him on the weekend to play down back a little bit and play the wings role as well.
“I’m sure that (playing against Gold Coast) may be at the back of his mind but I think every game is a new challenge and there’s different motivations for every player in each game and I’m sure for him he’s excited by the prospect of that.”
Injury cloud for star Cat after heavy collision
A star Cat is racing the clock to prove his fitness ahead of the game against Gold Coast this week, while a key defender is making promising progress to return to football.
Matthew Forrest
SUPERSTAR forward Jeremy Cameron is under an injury cloud ahead of Geelong’s round 3 clash with Gold Coast after copping a brutal knock in Thursday night’s loss.
The 2019 Coleman Medalist did not train with the group on Monday after almost leading the Cats to a memorable comeback against the Blues with a 25-disposal, six-goal haul in the eight-point loss at the MCG.
It is understood that Cameron is battling a rib injury after a fourth-quarter collision with new Blue Blake Acres and may miss the clash with the Suns, with both sides eager to avoid a 0-3 start.
Premiership Cat Zach Guthrie said Cameron almost dragged Geelong over the line.
“He was amazing the other night, I thought at times guys like that who do some really special things don’t get some of the credit for some of the brave acts that they do on the field as well,” he said.
“I thought some of the stuff he did in that regard during the game were awesome, he did pull up a little bit sore.
“I do think when you do kick six goals and perform like that you do pull up pretty sore after every game.
“It’s great to watch guys like that who can have the ability to flip the game on the head and he was a marvel to watch.
“In that last quarter he was a really big catalyst for us trying to get back into that game.”
Cameron was not the only sore Cat at Monday’s training run, with rucks Rhys Stanley and Jon Ceglar, as well as defender Mitch Duncan away from the group and running laps.
Vice captain Tom Stewart was on track and wearing a knee sleeve but his only involvement was collecting loose footballs, while young star Sam De Koning was training with his sore knee strapped.
Star forward Tom Hawkins was also training with the main group but had his calf heavily bandaged, while defender Jake Kolodjashnij looks set to return to football this week after completing training with the main group.
Guthrie said he was confident in Hawkins’ health despite a stop-start preseason run.
“He’s played for a long time, I think he’s got a really good base behind him and he’s certainly been working really hard behind the scenes throughout the preseason to get himself in the shape where he can play in round 1,” he said.
“He went about his rehab really professionally … as the season goes on he’ll look to improve, we know what he’s capable of when he’s at his best.”
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