Injuries to Rhys Stanley and Cam Guthrie haven’t progressed as Geelong wanted as the veteran pair remain weeks away from action. Get the latest here.
Stanley was sent for surgery after he suffered a fractured right eye socket in round 5 against West Coast.
Rhys Stanley is helped from the ground. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images
While he has been able to train at times, Cats coach Chris Scott said Stanley’s eyesight has “been a little slow to return to normal”.
The Cats have called on Jonathon Ceglar to fill the ruck breach without Stanley and have been linked to former Sydney ruck Sam Naismith as a potential mid-season draftee.
“He had surgery and the complication around his return is more to do with his vision,” Scott said of Stanley.
“That is a really uncertain outlook as far as I am told. They (the medical team) were hopeful that would return really quickly but they couldn’t guarantee is and it has just been a little bit slow.
“He is able to train and do a lot of loading so I think when he comes good he will be able to play relatively quickly.
“His vision has just been a little bit slow to return to normal and there is no appetite to rush that process, he is certainly not going to play when he is suffering those symptoms.”
Prolific midfielder Guthrie, who shared the Carji Greeves Medal with Jeremy Cameron last year, was last seen in round 6 against Sydney.
Zach Tuohy and Cam Guthrie at training. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images
Scott said Guthrie carried a sore toe into that game, was subbed off as a management decision and felt good on the Monday after the game.
But his toe worsened as that week wore on and given he hasn’t been able to run for a month, his return will come after Geelong’s bye over the King’s Birthday weekend.
“We thought it would still be a couple of weeks and he would likely get back and it just hasn’t progressed that way and it has got to the point now … he has had so much time without running or footy training that it is going to take a bit longer than we thought,” Scott said.
“We are still optimistic that it will be relatively soon after the bye but it certainly won’t be before that.”
Max Holmes is out. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images
In better news for the Cats, Scott said Max Holmes’ knee injury will be “on the quicker end of the scale”
Holmes had surgery this week after bumping his knee against Fremantle and will spend a couple of weeks off his feet but should return to running after the bye.
The Cats are hopeful of gaining hamstrung trio Patrick Dangerfield, Gary Rohan and Mitch Duncan back next week to face the Western Bulldogs.
Dangerfield eyeing round 12 return
Geelong skipper Patrick Dangerfield is confident his team can win the flag from outside the top four if it gets its form right in September as he eyes a return against the Western Bulldogs in round 12.
A grade two hamstring has sidelined the superstar since round 8 and despite Geelong consistently flagging his injury as minor, he will miss at least three weeks.
Patrick Dangerfield wants to return against the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images
The midfielder had been in classical, dominating form before the injury and said the setback was “bloody frustrating”.
“Certainly the plan is to be right and ready to play next week,” Dangerfield told SEN.
“(I am) around the mark but it’s just getting days in the legs and high-speed metres in. It’s a more conservative route, which kind of makes sense with hamstrings I suppose.”
Without Dangerfield, Geelong has lost its last two matches and sits seventh, two games back from the top-four.
He said the Cats didn’t pay too much attention to earning the double chance, even if the 2016 Western Bulldogs remain the only side to win a premiership from outside the top four since the AFL adopted its current finals system in 2000.
The ice pack came out during the Adelaide game in round 8. Pic: Michael Klein
“It’s not really something we focus on at all,” he said.
“Obviously top four, that’s a big part around executing your game and giving yourself the best chance. But with the side that we have got, I just feel like we just need to get out timing right and we will be OK.
“Our best footy is good enough and playing at the right time of the year is the most important thing.
“We have had seasons where we have accumulated a stack of wins but we haven’t had the right form at the right time of the year. There is a bit of that in (2017) and (2019), just around the timing.
“There is plenty of cause for optimism, I believe.”
Dangerfield said the next two games – at home against GWS Giants on Saturday and next week against the Bulldogs – were crucial before Geelong’s mid-season bye.
“We feel like if we can get the next couple of weeks right, it gives us a good springboard for the second half of the season where hopefully we get some availability back,” he said.
Dangerfield, who is also the AFL Players Association president, said negotiations between the player’s union and the AFL on a new collective bargaining agreement had not make progress in recent weeks.