Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield expects star defender Tom Stewart to return against Melbourne.
But he believes further up the field is where the Cats’ issues actually lie.
Stewart (knee) was a late withdrawal from Saturday’s loss to the Brisbane Lions, condemning Geelong to a 1-2 record.
When asked if he expected Stewart to be ready for Friday’s clash at GMHBA Stadium, Dangerfield joked: “I’ll walk him out with crutches if I need to.
“You can’t replace a Tom Stewart. You can manufacture the role, but he’s an incredible player, one of the best defenders of the game. So we’re really hopeful he’ll be back.
“He’s definitely the key pillar in the defence. I mean, he’s one of the best defenders ever, so that’s important, but it’s also team defence and how you structure up.
“I think our defence actually played quite well. It was probably further up the field that we needed to improve the area of our game, particularly in the third (quarter).
“So we’ll go to work on that tomorrow and there’s a bit to review.
“But sometimes it’s at the margins – it’s the bounce of the ball, the ability to neutralise a contest and create another stoppage, just those little idiosyncrasies we weren’t able to really nail.”
Dangerfield, now playing a significant amount of time in attack, was adamant there wasn’t too much for the Cats to fix.
“It’s execution at the final stages, and that speaks to the margin for error in this game now. It’s a very even competition, and you’ve got to be able to execute.
“So it’s not too much fine-tuning I don’t think, but that’s the challenge for us.”
Shannon Neale was in a moon boot on Monday morning and Dangerfield expected the key forward to have scans.
Dangerfield sidestepped a question regarding the club’s reported interest in Western Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Gold Coast ball magnet Matt Rowell.
“Well, to be honest, from a selfish perspective, I’m not caring too much about it, because the now is the most important, and the future, it doesn’t go super long for me personally,” he said.
“There’s people employed to take care of that stuff, but as a player you’re just focusing on how can we get back on the winners board and start performing consistently.”
Chief executive Steve Hocking dismissed any concerns over the AFL’s audit into third-party payments at the Cats.
“Just exactly what the AFL said – all clubs are reviewed and that’s just ongoing as far as any football club,” he said.
“So not concerned.”
When asked if the club was confident everything was above board, Hocking said: “yes we are.”
