By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
THE flexibility that has already helped the Cats overcome significant deficits in three games this season is no accident, coach Chris Scott has confirmed.
The capacity to swing players into various roles at different stages of games has become a Cats trademark.
While the days of players sticking to tried and tested positions week in and week out have long gone, Geelong has taken the concept to a new level.
The recent goal-kicking exploits of defender Harry Taylor earned him accolades as the best swingman in the league.
Scott said Taylor was the most obvious swingman candidate at the moment but others lurked in the wings.
“Harry just fits into that nicely and is probably the one that is most obvious at the minute but he’s not the only one.
“We’ve got others who can come in and play both ends as well and we spent a bit of time in the preseason training (James) Podsiadly as a defender and Mitch Brown (can play) forward and back as well.
“That, basically, with a few exceptions like Hawkins, is the way we train our key position players to play.”
Scott conceded that releasing Taylor put more pressure on other defenders, with the knee injury to recruit Jared Rivers creating “a little bit of an impediment”.
“We’d like to play Harry forward, so having more defenders available would certainly help that,” Scott said.
The prospect of fielding three tall forwards presented no problems, Scott said, after the 21-point win over the Western Bulldogs last weekend.
Scott clearly saw opportunities to use such a system against Richmond on Saturday, with the Tigers a little short on tall defenders.
And he was keen to back his midfield against the top Tiger trio of Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio and Dustin Martin.
“You can’t shut them all down, you can’t stop them getting the ball. They use each other really well and feed off each other.
“They’re three of the outstanding midfielders of the competition but it would be a mistake for us to focus in on them too much at the expense of our game.
“We rate Richmond as a good team, certainly a finals team. We’d rate them in the top half of the ladder at this stage of the season and probably closer to the top half of that than the bottom.
“Their best players are exceptional and hard to curtail and their best footy this year has been as good as anyone’s.
“Last week was a very good performance against a team in Fremantle over in Perth, which is as hard to beat as anyone. We will be treating them with the respect they deserve.”
Scott said Rivers might need some knee surgery to repair some cartilage damage and was cautious about Josh Caddy resuming after his concussion last week.
Dependable defender Corey Enright plays game 250 and mercurial forward Steve Johnson his 200th this weekend.
