By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
CHRIS Scott knows his charges like a challenge.
He welcomed tough tests against West Coast this week and Sydney seven days later as a means of fine-tuning the Cats’ form leading into finals.
Much has been made of Fremantle’s easy run to the finals, highlighted by veteran coach Kevin Sheedy whose comments were poo-poohed by Ross Lyon after the Dockers lopped the Giants at the weekend.
But Scott was this week firmly of the philosophy that playing the best would stand the team in better stead.
“We’d love to bank the four points for the next three weeks and go into the finals in a good position,” Scott declared.
“But more important than that in some ways is that we’re in good form and you can only test that form against good opposition.
“West Coast turned around their season in some respects just recently, pushed some really good teams and had a great win on the weekend.
“Their midfield is really strong and when they’ve got all their forwards on the park and in form they’re as dangerous a group as any.
“Over there they’re always a challenge. It’s probably just what we need at this stage of the season, to be honest.
“It’s a test, we need to win, we want to play our best but the week after is going to be a pretty big test against the Swans.
“So in terms of the longer-term picture, our lead into the finals can be a real positive for us given we play our part.”
With a reasonably healthy list, the Cat’s brains trust will be overworked making the right choices for the trip, given Paul Chapman’s stunning return in the VFL, resting Tom Hawkins’ back issues and monitoring Mitch Duncan’s concussion recovery.
Scott admitted some of the older players in the club – such as Josh Hunt – could not expect meritorious records to safeguard spots.
“We’re in the position where we have a lot of players capable of playing AFL footy and, unfortunately, we can’t squeeze them all into the 22,” Scott explained.
“In some ways Josh suffers because of his age – we’ve been pretty open and up front with that. If two players are on about the same level we’re going to pick the younger one.
“That’s difficult for some older players to accept but, in terms of buying into the team ethic and the values we want to live by, there aren’t many better than Josh, so he’s handled it extremely well.”
Scott conceded Paul Chapman’s strong VFL form had increased the temptation to play him in Perth this weekend.
“He’s doing everything we’ve asked of him so far. It’s not a guarantee that we play him this week – or next week for that matter.
“We’ve said that we’ll give him every chance to force his way into the 22 and that still stands but we’re a long way from deciding if that will be this week or not.”
Scott also conceded Chapman had to play before the finals in order to make an impact when it counts.
“It would be a big ask for Chappy to play no AFL football and then bring him in for finals,” he said.
“The intention, all going well, is to play him before finals but there are a few things he needs to tick off before that happens.”
In-form small forward Mathew Stokes will play his 150th game this weekend.
