Geelong coach Chris Scott hasn’t ruled out bringing back Sam De Koning from a month on the sidelines as part of the club’s preferred ruck set-up for Thursday night’s qualifying final against Port Adelaide.
De Koning made a successful return from a knee injury suffered against Adelaide on August 3 in Saturday’s VFL qualifying final loss to Werribee.
Scott would have been heartened by the 23-year-old’s performance, tallying 18 disposals and 23 hitouts in the Cats’ 21-point loss.
Rhys Stanley returned for the Adelaide game, and in the three games with De Koning sidelined, he averaged 12 disposals, 33 hitouts, and three marks.
“This year… it hasn’t been an experiment because we always were confident Sam could play well in the ruck,” Scott said
“He’d just been such a good key defender for us that it hadn’t been a priority.
“What we were hoping to do as much as anything was to get to this point of the year where we had some depth and we had some options.
“Exactly which way we choose to go over the next month or so, hopefully, is still a little bit up for debate.
“We need to think a little bit about cohesiveness and stability.
“But it’s not as if we’re trying something that hasn’t been tried for the rest of the year if we decide to play De Koning a little bit more ruck as opposed to back.”
Retiring forward Tom Hawkins (foot) and two-time best-and-fairest Cam Guthrie (Achilles) won’t be considered for AFL selection after lengthy injury layoffs.
However, both are a chance to line up in Saturday’s VFL semi-final against Southport at GMHBA Stadium.
“It’s likely they’ll both play,” Scott said.
“That’s good news. But, again, reading too much into it either way – whether they come up and play or whether they don’t quite get there.
“Agan, we expect them both to play. But, we think there’s a lot of water still to flow under the bridge before they become available for AFL selection.
Certainly, playing this week is a good sign, but far from the final step that they need to take before they’re declared available for a (AFL) final.”
X: @krockfootball
