NEW HOPE ON SELWOOD RECOVERY

Bye in favour as Cats skipper gears up for match simulation practice

GEELONG captain Joel Selwood is eyeing off a return to the training track during the pre-finals bye, bolstering hopes he will be right to return for the first week of finals.

Selwood had surgery at the start of the month for the syndesmosis ankle injury he suffered against Sydney in Round 20, which ruled him out of the remainder of the home-andaway season.

But his brother and teammate Scott yesterday said the Cats’ skipper was aiming to take part in match simulation training in two weeks’ time.

“He’s all right, he’s pretty good about it all and he’s pretty confident,” Selwood said on SEN.

“We’ve got the bye week obviously before the finals and we’re going to have a little run around, a match simulation on the Saturday off, and do quite a bit then.

“He’s planning, from my understanding, to join in all of that.”

Selwood’s inclusion would be a major boost to the Cats, who have been hit hard by injuries and suspension in the back end of the season.

He is part of a group of players the club is hopeful of having available for selection, including Mark Blicavs and Nakia Cockatoo.

Geelong football manager Steve Hocking said the Cats remained optimistic that pair could play in September.

“He (Blicavs) is going OK, he is back running on the Alter-G (treadmills) here,” Hocking said.

“He is certainly progressing quite well. When he is going to be available, I haven’t had an update on that but he’s certainly hitting all the right progressions at this point in time.

“(Cockatoo) certainly won’t play in the next two weeks, but likely during finals.”

The extra week’s rest gives all three players a far greater chance of playing finals.

But Hocking said while having them available would clearly enhance the make-up of the Geelong side, the performances of some of its younger players in recent weeks had highlighted its depth.

“You can look at it a range of ways, it (the bye) is there so we dealt with it for the first time last year and we’ll deal with it this year,” he said.

“As much as anything, it’s about making sure we’re getting game time into players.

“It just so happens that there is a bye in place, so we’ll just take advantage of it as best we can.

“But I think we’ve shown in the back half of the year the depth of our list. Guys like Zach Guthrie, Sam Simpson, (Brandan) Parfitt and (James) Parsons are all in their first year and a number of those guys are off the rookie list and have covered the losses really well.

“The fact that there is a bye coming up will benefit some of those players but not necessarily all of them.”