JOEL STILL IN DOUBT
Medics have final word on skipper
JOEL Selwood’s hopes of returning from a sickening concussion 12 days ago will rest with Geelong’s medical staff.
As the Cats last night named skipper Selwood to play in tomorrow night’s clash with Brisbane, coach Chris Scott said he was uncertain if the hard-nosed midfielder would line up at the Gabba.
“I’d say he’s likely (to play), but that’s a dangerous thing to say,” Scott said at yesterday’s press conference before the club’s training at Broadbeach Football Club. “I’m really not across the whole procedure, I just get the final call from the medical staff and they haven’t given that to me yet.
“But based on what we’ve seen at training he looks pretty good. But to be frank he looked pretty good last week but he wasn’t right.
“We’ll just have to cool our jets on that one.” Geelong made just two changes to their side last night, with debutant Sam Simpson and Aaron Black both dropped.
Youngster Brandan Parfitt also returns after a dominant performance in the VFL last weekend. The rising star had 26 disposals in his first game back from a hamstring injury.
When pressed further on Selwood’s availability, Scott said he’d left the decision in the hands of the medical staff. “I honestly couldn’t tell you if he was close or not,” Scott said.
“The other guide that I got that he was relatively close was that he wasn’t ruled out earlier.
“It’s completely a medical call, and I could get more involved if I chose to, but I don’t see the point.”
Scott said he had distanced himself from talk about the health of Selwood, who was knocked out in the opening minutes of the clash against Fremantle in Round 14.
“Honestly, I’m not being evasive, I just don’t know,” Scott said when asked if Selwood had had further concussion tests this week.
“Again, I could go and ask all those questions and I’d get answers but it doesn’t have any relevance to me.
“It’s probably a question that could be directed at our medical staff. It’s a medical call, completely independent of coaching. He trained last week and he trained this week, and to my eye he looks really good. But that’s an untrained medical eye with concussion.”
The Cats managed a draw against Greater Western Sydney without the services of Selwood, and Scott said he was pleased with the performance of the midfield.
“It’s a positive for us, but I’ve never really felt that one performance is reflective of us as a team,” Scott said.
“Good or bad, you need a decent sample size to prove things one way or another and we’ve been a team in transition for a long time and we still don’t feel that we’ve necessarily proved that we deserve to be up towards the top of the ladder. That needs to be done over a long period of time and the competition is really close at the moment.
“We’re extremely fortunate to have two of the best midfielders in the competition and don’t think we shy away from what those two guys deliver, and because they are so good, the next couple of midfielders are below them but aspiring to reach those levels.
“Without Joel last week, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say it proves we don’t rely on them guys because Patty had 45 touches . . . If he doesn’t play that well, we don’t get as close as we did.”