By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
GEELONG faces tough decisions at the end of the season on its lengthy list of long-term injured players, according to Cats chief Brian Cook.
He said the club could no longer afford to carry so many players unable to take the field.
The club’s 12 players with long-term injuries of at least two months cost “around $2.5 million out of a $9 million payroll”, Cook told a Geelong Business Breakfast last week.
“What we’ve learned over time is that we can’t carry the injuries that we have.
“It’s been a perfect storm. Last year we had over 20 injuries.”
The Cats have carried Nathan Vardy, Daniel Menzel and Josh Cowan with a series of serious injuries for up to three years.
The injury list also includes Jimmy Bartel (4-6 weeks) Mitch Duncan (10-12 weeks) Lincoln McCarthy (indefinite) Cameron Delaney (indefinite) Hamish McIntosh (4-6 weeks) and Billie Smedts (4-6 weeks).
Cook said the long injury list came at a time when the club was in transition.
“It’s been in transition for four or five or six years and each year we’ve had a changeover of four or five or six but no more.
“But I think it’s probably got to the stage where at the end of this year you’ll see as much change in our list as there has been in the last decade or so.”
Cook said continually finding top-up players had added to the cost.
“Our older plays haven’t changed and our list management is very challenging. If you put all that together I think you’ll find that there’ll be a lot of change at the end of this year.”
Cook said the future of the club was reliant on its injury rehabilitation, older players holding form and 50-game players improving.
Keeping club leaders, Joel Selwood, Tom Hawkins and Harry Taylor on the field and moulding recruits Mitch Clark and Rhys Stanley into the squad was essential, he said.
The club would seek midfielders and defenders to replace anticipated retirees over the next two to three years.
Cook also said the increasing popularity of women’s football would lead the Cats to consider establishing team for women in 2017 or 2018.
