AFL news 2019: Geelong’s new faces ready for Round 1 test against grand finalist Collingwood

With new faces and a game style tweak, Geelong coach Chris Scott is confident his side will be ready to confront a strong Collingwood side on Friday night.

Geelong will confront a “pretty complete” Collingwood team on Friday night at the MCG, but Cats coach Chris Scott is confident the likely additions of some new faces and game style tweaks will stand his team in good stead.

The Cats are yet to settle on a starting line-up to take on the Magpies, but former Bulldog Luke Dahlhaus and ex-Swan Gary Rohan are certain to play.

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He admitted it would be a “brave” coaching panel to leave out first-round draft pick Jordan Clark, who was so impressive during the JLT Series, while Tom Atkins and Charlie Constable are also in the mix.

“There’s a very, very strong likelihood that the team that played our last game last year will be quite different to the team that takes on Collingwood,” Scott said.

“It’s been a pretty significant period of transition for us and it’s still exciting that we think — with some optimism — that if we get it together we can compete with good sides. Clearly, Collingwood are one of those.”

Luke Dahlhaus and Gary Rohan will debut for Geelong on Friday. Picture: Getty Images.

Scott said on face value the Magpies looked even stronger in personnel this year, saying: “I don’t want to build them up too much, but they’re pretty complete now.”

“They’ve had a long period to develop this list and they have a lot of good talent there.

“At the very least, you look at (them) and you think there are not obvious holes in their makeup.”

He ruled out Zach Tuohy (knee) for Round 1, but said Esava Ratugolea (dislocated finger) was a certain starter against the Magpies.

Geelong has ruled Zach Tuohy out of its Round 1 clash with Collingwood. Picture: Michael Klein

“He (Tuohy) thinks he could (play) — I guess if he held a gun to my head I think he could too, but we just don’t take those risks at this time of year,” Scott said.

He stressed Collingwood’s gluttony of midfield options would generate some “interesting discussion” at match committee for both sides.

“One of the problems with having a midfield that’s stacked with talent is working out where the — and I use this term respectfully — role players fit in,” he said.

“To get (Levi) Greenwood in there onto (Joel) Selwood, they need to move someone to the outside.

“It’s more their problems than ours … the problem we have, if we choose to play a run-with player, is whether we go to (Scott) Pendlebury or (Dayne) Beams or (Adam) Treloar or (Steele) Sidebottom (and) there are a few others in there as well.”