Geelong coach Chris Scott has forecast an intellectual skirmish as the Cats look to control Adelaide’s potent forward line in Thursday night’s Gather Round opener at Adelaide Oval.
The Crows are averaging a league-best 125 points per game through the opening month of the season, with Riley Thillthorpe (14 goals), Darcy Fogarty (12) and Taylor Walker (10) among the top 10 leading goalkickers in the competition.
However, a talented midfield including captain Jordan Dawson, Jake Soligo and Matt Crouch have ensured a plentiful supply inside Adelaide’s forward 50.
“There are multiple ways to think about, you know, going about getting on top of their midfield. The ultra-defensive mode is not something that they’ve chosen to go with early in the year and it’s worked for them.
“It’ll be an interesting tactical battle, this one, because you could come up with three or four different priorities that would all be logical in their own right,” Scott said.
“But you can’t do them all at once, so I find it difficult to separate who’s more important,
“Dawson and Rankine and Crouch and O’Brien, Soligo, or their forward line, who are rightly getting the plaudits that they deserve at the moment.”
Geelong’s defensive unit has suffered a blow with a hamstring injury to sideline Jack Henry for at least three weeks.
Veteran Mark Blicavs will return after being a late withdrawal from the win over Melbourne due to illness.
The Cats will also consider young midfielder Mitch Knevitt (plantar fasciitis), who was managed out of the clash with the Demons as a precaution.
“Our feedback is, with still 48 hours to go, that he’s looking better,” Scott said.
“So it’s not as obvious as it may seem. We’ve still got a few decisions that we need to make.”
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