Geelong players put through bruising two-hour session in preparation for preliminary final
THEY say no rest for the wicked — and the Cats did not want to play nice today with a bruising two-hour session at a university oval in Geelong. TRAINING PHOTOS
Geelong
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THEY say no rest for the wicked — and the Cats did not want to play nice today.
Afforded a second bye in three weeks, Geelong did its best to void it with a bruising two-hour hit out at Deakin University in Waurn Ponds.
Onballer Scott Selwood said the pre-finals week off was used as a freshen up, but next week would be as close to a regular week as coach Chris Scott could construct.
Facing a selection squeeze and with its VFL team eliminated, Jed Bews and Nakia Cockatoo used Saturday as an audition to win selection for Friday night’s preliminary final.
Selwood expects fellow recruit Lachie Henderson to be available after recovering from knee surgery and refused to bite on whether legend Jimmy Bartel would retain his place.
“He (Henderson) worked really hard to get up for the Hawks game and he just missed out by one or two days, I reckon,” Selwood said.
“He’s looking really strong and it’s up to match committee to sort all that out.”
As for Saturday’s match simulation?
“Approaching this week we wanted to make sure it wasn’t a week off for us,” Selwood said.
“It was actually a real hitout and we didn’t want to step off the training. So that’s the attitude and it was a solid hitout today and there might still be some sore bodies.
“We had the week off to freshen up at the end of the year and assess what we’re doing and our goals.
“(But) this week we haven’t taken the foot off the pedal. We’ve kept going and trained really hard and the attitude’s been really strong this week.
“We’ve tried to maintain that it’s a normal week of playing.”
Selwood said the early exit of the club’s reserves “hurts us” and declared he would “fight and scrag” every training session in the desire to solidify his place in the best 22.
Selwood missed the first three months with injury, but made his Geelong debut in Round 20 and has impressed in his first four games.
As for his defection from West Coast last year? The brother of Cats captain Joel Selwood said it was about more than chasing premierships, also wanting to return closer to family.
And the tough midfielder revealed umpires told him at the beginning of last week’s qualifying final they would be watching his contest with Hawk Sam Mitchell “the whole time”.
The Cats targeted Mitchell physically but Selwood says he plays fair as the Cats prepare to play off for the first Grand Final place at the MCG on Friday night.
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