CRAMERI A MONTH OFF
GEELONG is confident Stewart Crameri is on track to play pre-season matches despite being about a month away from full training.
Crameri, given a career lifeline by the Cats in the rookie draft, has moved to Geelong in a bid to give himself the best chance of succeeding at his third club.
“(He’s) still a little bit delayed,” coach Chris Scott said of the former Essendon and Western Bulldogs mobile forward, who played only two matches this year with a chronic hip injury.
“We knew that and we knew we had to be careful with him. He had both hips done during the year. It got to the point where it looked like he wasn’t going to play so that delayed it a little bit further.
“Besides long kicking, he’s pretty much unencumbered. Not that we’re pushing him into everything at the moment.
“If you come and see us training, expect to see him do decent work late January, but probably not before that, and when I say decent work, I mean team-based stuff.”
The Cats believe the 29- year-old is capable of having an immediate impact for next year as a second target alongside Tom Hawkins.
Aside from AFLX in February, Geelong’s first JLT Community Series fixture is not until March 4 against Gold Coast in Townsville.
“It’s a long time until March, so we think he’ll be OK,” Scott said.
Crameri kicked 166 goals in 99 games in stints with Essendon and the Western Bulldogs but was cut by the Dogs this year. Desperate to continue his career, he made a compelling sales pitch to the Cats in the lead-up to the draft and is on a modest contract.
In a change to rookie rules, Crameri will be eligible for AFL selection in Round 1 next year, even if no players are on the long-term injury list.