GEELONG coach Chris Scott has ranked telling players they’ll be missing a final as one of the hardest parts of his job.
The incredible health of the Cats’ list heading into Saturday’s twilight qualifying final with Collingwood has resulted in Mark O’Connor and Brandan Parfitt being squeezed out of the team.
Also stiff to be watching on is hard-running wingman Sam Menegola, who was managed out of the final round win over West Coast but couldn’t find his way back into the team,
“I find it hard to rank the best and worst things of coaching, but that’s up there in terms of the worst,” he said.
“I think there are some cliches that get rolled out, like ‘it’s a good problem for the team to have’, and ‘there’s no such thing as unlucky players,
“I just completely disagree with the latter one.
“It’s a brutal part of coaching.”
However, Scott has left the door open for that trio – of which one is likely to be the medi-sub against the Magpies – to play a role later in the finals.
“I would emphasise – and this has been our policy all year – this has been a decision we’ve made for this week, and it’s for this week alone,” he said.
“The next week or the week after that, we’ll treat as a separate situation.
“Those three guys you mentioned, if you had of asked me ten weeks ago, I would have said; clearly, they’re in our best team.
“So, I feel desperately for them.
“But, they will support their teammates through everything they can and be ready when their chance – or if their chance – comes in the next few weeks.”
Geelong welcomed back ruck Rhys Stanley, key forward Jeremy Cameron and half-back Mitch Duncan to take on Collingwood.
Tough midfielder Tom Atkins returned to the starting 22 after being managed as the medi-sub against the Eagles.
Scott confirmed the team named on Thursday night wouldn’t be subject to a late change, with the medi-sub to be revealed an hour before the game.
“(I’m) 100 per cent confident that’s our team.,” he said.
Click below to listen to Chris Scott’s media conference.
Twitter: @krockfootball
