CORY’S HOPE

Cats say luckless forward ‘up and about’

GEELONG is confident it will have meaningful contributions from Cory Gregson and Lincoln McCarthy next year, with the injury-plagued small forwards back in training.

The pressure forwards loom as recruits in a revamped Cats forward line next season after being almost unsighted for 12 months.

Gregson, 21, has endured ongoing setbacks and multiple surgeries on a troublesome navicular bone in his foot since his last AFL match in Round 14 last year.

McCarthy was not seen after Round 3 this year, grounded by a hip-related groin injury that required surgery.

They are back running, with the club hopeful Gregson will graduate to football drills before Christmas as he builds slowly towards a return to contact work.

“It’s great seeing him (Gregson) in here every day. He’s running. He flashed past the other day with a new haircut, you can see he’s up and about, which is really pleasing,” Geelong football manager Simon Lloyd said.

“He’s shown an incredible amount of resilience over a period of time and everyone within the Geelong Football Club and the Geelong com- munity knows that Cory Gregson can play good footy.

“In regards to Cory, we’re taking a conservative approach with his history of foot injuries, but at the moment he’s progressing well and our medical and conditioning team are happy with his progress.”

Having lost Steven Motlop and Darcy Lang, the Cats will be banking on Gregson and McCarthy to add another dimension to a forward line that was at times exposed for a lack of defensive pressure.

Gregson has successfully negotiated a solid block of running in recent months.

“I can remember one of our final training sessions through the finals period, we were in the middle of a training drill, everyone stopped and he sprinted past and everyone applauded as he ran,” Lloyd said.

“He’s been running for a period of time, he’s starting to build, which is exciting for the footy club.”

Lloyd said it was too early to know whether McCarthy, 24, would be available to play in the pre-season competition.

Next year shapes as a defining season for McCarthy, who enters his seventh season on an AFL list with only 27 games to his name after many long injury setbacks.