Cats coaches to debate side ahead of Round 1

GEELONG Cats assistant coach Steven King admitted the selection process for Round 1 of this year’s AFL season will cause him and his fellow coaches some headaches, with key youngsters putting up strong pre-season performances in recent weeks.

Geelong’s pre-season is officially over with the Cats now fully focused the game against St Kilda on March 16.

“Personally, I think it was great to see Ollie Dempsey again back up a really solid campaign. He was really impressive,” King said.

“Jhye Clark and Max Holmes again for us, they’ve had really good preparation and the way they played [against Carlton] really makes it hard for us as a coaching group to leave them out of Round 1.”

Geelong was undefeated in both its two pre-season hit outs, with a win against Carlton at IKON Park and a 12-point win over Essendon a week ago, despite some inaccuracies in front of goal.

Geelong’s eight quarters of play has shown promising signs, according to King, which he said were the fruits of a successful pre-season – the longest in recent years.

“Our game against Carlton is the end to a really good preparation, from our point of view, for the whole pre-season,” King said.

“To get eight quarters of football against two quality teams, especially down here most recently, it was really exciting to be challenged.

“It was a hot game early, but the boys responded, and we just take a lot of positives out of it, not just tonight, but also the past couple of months.”

King said Gary Rohan will “struggle” to feature against the Saints in Round 1, while Ollie Henry was withheld from the Bombers clash last week as a precaution after he rolled an ankle at training.

Holmes suffered an apparent ankle injury against Essendon in his new role off the half-back line but played down any injury post-game.

“We’ll have a really good debate around what the best team looks like for Round 1,” King said. “We’re in a really good position where we have around 32-35 players who could legitimately play in Round 1. We’re really fit and healthy and it’ll probably be horses for courses a little bit around who we want playing.

“We have two weeks to train. Ultimately, the pre-season has been about preparing for St Kilda.”

For tickets to Geelong’s season opener against St Kilda at GMHBA Stadium, head to ticketmaster.com.au