Jimmy Bartel says he’s happy playing role for Geelong ahead of preliminary final

GEELONG veteran Jimmy Bartel says he isn’t feeling under pressure to keep his spot for the preliminary final as teammates rally in support of the Brownlow medallist.

Josh Gibson and Jimmy Bartel during the qualifying final. Picture: Colleen Petch

GEELONG veteran Jimmy Bartel isn’t feeling any pressure heading into the Cats’ preliminary final.

The Brownlow medallist has been under intense scrutiny after a quiet finish to the regular season but believes outside noise comes part and parcel with September.

Bartel is happy with his form and relieved the Cats managed to scrape past arch-rival Hawthorn and into a first preliminary final since 2013.

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Geelong awaits the winner of Saturday’s Sydney-Adelaide semi-final.

Bartel said he was just playing his role for the team and was happy with his form.

“I don’t think I have to justify myself,” he said.

Jimmy Bartel takes a mark against Hawthorn.

“If you look at the year in its entirety I’ve been pretty good. If you just pick stats from one or two games, of course, you can make it sound however you want.

“It makes a good headline, saying I should be dropped, but that’s this time of year. There’s not as many games and you’ve just got to create as many headlines as you can.”

I’ll do any role that the team wants. I keep putting my hand up to go in the ruck but they won’t let me do that.

Jimmy Bartel

The 300-game superstar played a shutdown role on star Hawthorn defender Josh Gibson, a key role in last Friday night’s thrilling win.

“I played on Gibbo, he’s been a brilliant player for the Hawks and he always has a big impact on games,” Bartel told SEN.

“It was just a role that they thought I suited best out of our forward group, being bigger bodied compared to some of our other forwards.

“We thought if we can give Tom Hawkins some more one-on-ones with James Frawley that that would help.

Jimmy Bartel at Geelong training. Picture: Mitch Bear

“I’ll do any role that the team wants. I keep putting my hand up to go in the ruck but they won’t let me do that.

“I find all the noise a bit confusing, why the fascination.”

Veteran defender Tom Lonergan backed Bartel yesterday.

“He’s been a fantastic player for us and he proved in that last game against Melbourne that he’s still got a lot to offer and he’s cool and calm under pressure in the big games,” Lonergan said.

“We think he’s a great part of our team, so I hope he’s there in preliminary final week.

“We all love playing with him, but we’ll leave it to the coaches to make that call.”

Hawthorn had the chance to win after the siren but Isaac Smith missed his 40m shot, sending Cats players and fans delirious.

Bartel agreed the epic final had added another great chapter to the rivalry.

“It’s a massive relief. Any time you can get a win over the Hawks, everyone knows how great they’ve been over such a long time.

“We’ve had amazing and intense battles against them.

“To get a win in the qualifying final and get yourself into a prelim is a great opportunity to get into a Grand Final.”