Calf problem slows Jack Steven’s pre-season at Geelong
Patrick Dangerfield says Jack Steven can fill a missing link for the Cats, but when will he be ready? Geelong’s star recruit has had to step back from pre-season training.
Geelong
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Geelong’s star recruit Jack Steven has endured an interrupted first pre-season with the Cats after injuring his calf at training.
The former Saint strained his calf earlier this month and has spent the past fortnight on a modified program in an unfortunate setback for the goalkicking midfielder.
The Cats are confident Steven will be ready to re-join main training and increase his loads within the next two weeks.
But his availability for the club’s pre-season games against Gold Coast on February 22 (Metricon Stadium) and Essendon on March 9 (Marvel Stadium) will be assessed closer to the dates.
Geelong has high hopes Steven, 29, will become a damaging option in the forward half this season after losing star ballwinner Tim Kelly to West Coast in the trade period.
Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield also said explosive 23-year-old Nakia Cockatoo could make a major impact in 2020 after a nightmare run of injuries limited him to only 34 games in five seasons.
Steven, a four-time best and-fairest-winner at St Kilda, was sent to Geelong in exchange for pick 58 in a bargain pick-up for coach Chris Scott in last year’s trade period.
But this pre-season loomed as an important stepping stone in his bid to rebuild his fitness levels and lose some excess weight after missing the bulk of last season with a mental health issue.
The Cats have been hit with several pre-season injury issues including Mitch Duncan and Jake Kolodjashnij (both hip surgery), Joel Selwood (hamstring) and Tom Stewart (groin) and Nathan Kreuger (knee meniscus).
Kolodjashnij is expected to miss the start of the season after going under the knife.
Steven played seven games last year and showed exciting glimpses of his potential snagging three goals in his comeback game against Fremantle in Round 21.
He is expected to slot into a forward role similar to champion Gary Ablett early next season and then increase his midfield minutes later in the year.
Dangerfield said Steven had some significant weapons.
“He has been great. He’s won four best-and-fairest awards and you can see that in the way that he moves he’s a very good player,” Dangerfield said.
“He had a (calf) hiccup a couple of weeks back, but he is just about back in full pre-season training so it has been great to have him.
“Obviously, with the loss of Tim (Kelly), he is going to be an important player for us and we think he has that line-breaker and goalkicker that we have seen him do across his career.”
Importantly, Steven had settled comfortably into life at his new club after 183 matches across 11 seasons at St Kilda.
“We just want him to be happy and when he is happy he will play some great footy and he is a really important player with the young list that we have got,” Dangerfield said on SEN.
“It is important that we get him up and rolling early because we have got a tough fixture early.”
The Cats tackle Greater Western Sydney (GIANTS Stadium), Gold Coast (Metricon Stadium), West Coast (Optus Stadium) and Hawthorn (MCG) in the first month.
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Dangerfield said Cockatoo was also ready to showcase his exciting athletic attributes after rebuilding his body last year.
“He is going to be one of the biggest differences that we have this year,” Dangerfield said.
“He’s been perennially injured for the last few years but he’s an athlete that there’s very few like in the competition.
“He’ll play that sort of half-forward role and roll through the midfield … he’ll give midfielders that play the majority of the time through the midfield a bit of a chop-out at times and he’s going to be a really big change for us.”