Cockatoo on the road to fitness, finals
GEELONG livewire Nakia Cockatoo could have as many as another four games in the VFL to get his body right before auditioning for a September call-up.
Cockatoo came through his first game in more than 12 months unscathed yesterday in the Cats’ 23-point win against Port Melbourne at North Port Oval.
Cockatoo played a half and collected six disposals and laid five tackles as Geelong looks to nurse his injury-prone body back to full fitness.
The talented forward has been earmarked to play his first full game in Round 20 against Williamstown on August 18.
Cockatoo said it was a relief to come through the game.
His last comeback lasted just 10 minutes before he suffered a PCL setback in his knee in July last year.
“It felt amazing to be honest,” Cockatoo said.
“I felt pretty good … next week we’ll turn it up one more quarter.”
Cockatoo laid one crunching tackle in the first 90 seconds on Port Melbourne ruckman Michael Wenn and showed glimpses to suggest his body was up to the rigours of a game.
The Cats have been diligent in his recovery to ensure his injury troubles are behind him.
“I found a little groove, a few handballs, a few kicks,” he said.
“I was pretty happy with my performance.”
D. Fort 6, W. Buzza 3, Q. Narkle 2, J. McLachlan 2, L. Fogarty 2, J. Jones 2, J. Parsons.
J. Lisle 5, J. Gasper 2, H. Hooper 2, D. Conway 2, M. Signorello, T. Crosbie, M. Wooffindin.
J. Parsons, D. Fort, R. Stanley, A. Black, J. McLachlan, W. Buzza.
J. Blair, M. Signorello, H. Hooper, D. Van Unen, E. Templeton, C. Searle
Cockatoo said he was not concerned about his knee.
“I didn’t have any problems at all,” he said.
“I couldn’t feel it. I was just worried about my game and stuck to that and the boys helped me as well getting a few touches.”
Cockatoo could spend the next month in the state league before putting his hand up for a call-up for Geelong’s first AFL final.
“He’s done a hell of a lot of work on his body and training to feel comfortable today and he got through it,” Geelong VFL coach Shane O’Bree said
“At half-time, the relief on his face to get through was priceless. Sometimes you take that for granted when you don’t know exactly what they’ve been through.
“He was pretty emotional just being able to get through half a game, which has been a while for him.”
O’Bree said Cockatoo could be considered for an AFL finals call-up.
“We’d love to get him in the AFL team but we’ve been wanting to get him in the AFL team for five years,” he said.
“He’s still a project player for us, and his body is the No. 1 priority and getting him through games of football as much as possible. If we have that luxury in the back end of the year, we’ll worry about that when it happens.”
Rhys Stanley had 34 hitouts and collected 16 disposals as he looks to win his place back in the AFL side, while Quinton Narkle was one of Geelong’s leading disposal winners with 20 touches.
Darcy Fort also kicked six goals, including five before half-time, to be in the best players.
“I thought our mids were great,” O’Bree said.
“We had a few guys come back on late flights yesterday from Perth.
“Narkle, Stanley and (James) Parsons all did that and their midfield craft was pretty good as a collective.”
It was Stanley’s first game in the VFL this year after being omitted for the game against Sydney. He shared the ruck duties and played in defence.
“I thought he got back and helped us defend,” O’Bree said.
“A number of times he got back in the hole and spoiled the ball or marked the ball. He was really good.”
Geelong won the game 18.12 (120) to 14.13 (97) to move up to sixth on the ladder.