McCarthy racks up Ks, now for fitness
GEELONG small forward Lincoln McCarthy said match fitness was all he was lacking after a return through the Cats’ VFL yesterday.
The 24-year-old was limited to covering 10km in the hitout against Collingwood at Olympic Park, his first game since April last year due to groin issues, and will be looking to build on that in coming weeks.
“The day for me was pretty much to try to get through, not about performance too much,” McCarthy said. “I had a 10km cap that I tried to spread out through the game. Early through the last (quarter) I knew I only had 1km to go, so I tried to stick deep and last out that quarter.
“I was rapt just to be back playing footy again.”
Despite the narrow loss, McCarthy said it was also pleasing to share his return with youngsters Sam Simpson and Quinton Narkle, who also played their first games of the season.
“They both played full games, so I’m a bit dirty that I couldn’t,” he said with a smile.
“We’ve all been working together in rehab and slogging it out on Saturday mornings and doing extra training after the boys finish. We’ve got a nice little bond together, us boys, and I’m rapt they got through it also. “That made it more fun, really.” A classy running goal to start the second quarter gave Geelong the spark it needed to respond from a six-goals-to-one opening stanza, but the Cats ultimately fell four points short.
McCarthy said the challenge for him was to continue to build match fitness.
“I didn’t have a lot of efforts in me, especially after the legs got a bit fatigued and I really wanted to transition — I knew I had to go but didn’t have a lot in me,” he said.
“I’m sure that will come; it’s been a year out of footy.
“I still feel I’ve got that explosive (burst), but just those repeat efforts, that’s probably what I don’t have. That will come over a few weeks, so we’ll work on that.
“I’d like to just make sure I can get through some full games and form will work that out. If I can start playing well over the next month, I’ll put my hand up.”