by JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
THERE’S a lot of happy chappies at Geelong, but one in particular.
“I’m pretty happy, Chappy’s pretty happy and it’s good for our supporters too,” coach Chris Scott smiled.
“But it was only a start, Paul is acutely aware he needs to play well again this week and we are far from making a decision on what our best 22 will be through the finals series,” Scott warned.
“The first step has been a really positive one for him and for us, so ideally we’ll get some more game time into him this week and be better placed to make an accurate assessment.”
Scott said he was not prepared to tempt fate by “list managing” players for the sake of it.
“There have always been a number of factors that have made sense to us,” Scott explained.
“We value stability at his time of the year so that’s going to be relatively important, we have a few guys with some minor injury issues, and I do say minor, and there are also players pushing up at VBFL level that we’d like to see play before the finals series ideally.
“So we’re weighing up that argument of stability versus opportunity versus managing players that might be a little bit sore, with the fact that we need to win the game and we need to play well.
“That’s not to say it’s any more acute than it was last week, but it’s still an important part of the rest of our season, that we continue to play good footy and build on our form.”
Scott nominated several players he would like to see get some senior game time pre-finals to ensure the entire squad was ready should they be required.
First among them was veteran defender Josh Hunt who “is incredibly unlucky not to be in our 22 at the moment”.
“All things being equal we’d love to give him an opportunity. Taylor Hunt has been an important part of our team and we’ve got some young players who are performing exceptionally well at VFL level, Jordan Murdoch, Billy Smedts, Jessie Stringer, George Horlin-Smith, so you can appreciate that its complicated.”
Scott said talls Trent West, Josh walker and Mitch Brown were candidates if Nathan Vardy failed to come up after a head knock against Sydney.
He admitted one of the “great challenges of coaching” was keeping players happy when they were out of the senior team.
“It’s the part I enjoy the least but we have an obligation to everyone associated with Geelong to pick the best team every single week and the best team going into finals and leave the individual status and feelings out of it to an extent.
“At the same time, and I said this to a few of the players the other day, this is the time of year where you are judged more than at any other time during the season.
“Reputations are on the line, things might not work out for you on an individual level but the way you handle yourself and the way you approach things can have a positive impact on this year but more importantly has a positive impact on the way you’re perceived long term.
“A big part of developing into a hardened AFL player is that you play competitive (VFL) footy and you play to win.”
