Confident Cats relish Casey clash

GEELONG coach Liam Buchanan says team confidence is sky high ahead of a Saturday-Sunday away game against Casey-South Melbourne.

Talented quick Jake Reed will miss the clash due to a Futures XI game for Victoria early next week, so Nathan Alexander steps up from Geelong’s seconds.

Gus Boyd has held his spot following a timely knock of 80 against Prahran last round, forcing Andrew Vine to return to the second XI to find form with the bat.

“Andrew Vine’s a bit stiff but Gus Boyd came in and made 80 and also, traditionally, Casey-South Melbourne has been a spin-friendly ground, so I’ve gone in with the three quicks and (Hayden) Butterworth, (Brenton) McDonald and Angus Boyd all bowl different variations of spin, so I think that will be important,” Buchanan said.

“The boys have got a lot of confidence up. The bowlers have been going well and the batters feel comfortable, having chased down a couple of good totals recently, so chocka-block full of confidence.

“Casey have been surprisingly good I think this year, nipping at our heels somewhere inside the top eight, so it will be a good test for the boys.”

Buchanan said there were no qualms about playing back-to-back days this weekend, with his bowling brigade freshened after last weekend’s successful run-chase win.

“The boys batted last week so the bowlers are all pretty fresh,” he said.

‘It’s probably the following week that bowlers could be bowling two weeks in a row that it would probably matter, but all the bowlers have had a week off.

“It was good to lose a few toporder wickets on the weekend and give our middle order a bit of a hit on the weekend.

“The next three weeks is business as usual, try and get everyone in good form. Their confidence is probably the key, so we need a confident batting group.”