Cats reigning best and fairest Cam Guthrie will return for next Friday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs, according to Geelong coach Chris Scott.
“He will play next week,” Scott told a press conference on Wednesday.
The 2021 Carji Greeves Medallist suffered a shoulder injury in the Cats’ win over Collingwood in round 11.
He was not selected alongside returning teammates Patrick Dangerfield, Mark Blicavs, Mitch Duncan and Mark O’Connor for tonight’s game against Port Adelaide.
“He won’t make the trip,” Scott said.
“He is such an important player for us with 11 games to go in the home and away season, and with some of the guys coming back as well, we just didn’t think it was prudent to push him this week.”
Young forward Gryan Miers is also set to return against the Bulldogs after suffering a hairline fibula (lower leg) fracture in round 7.
Silky midfielder Sam Simpson will likely take a few weeks longer following a minor quad strain.
“We’re just going to take our time with him,” Scott said.
“He did his quad during in his rehab from another injury.
“He just has a history now of these little soft tissue injuries – in isolation they don’t amount to much but when you put them together – we just need to be a bit more careful with him.”
Scott indicated the Cats wanted Simpson ready to play later in the season.
“We want to put a plan together where that’s on the table later for him,” he said.
Scott described exciting young gun Quinton Narkle as “desperately-unfortunate” not to be selected for tonight’s game.
“I suspect in a year or two he’s just going to be so good that he’s going to be one of those automatic selections and we’re going to have that difficult conversation with other young players.”
