ZACH WON’T HOLD BACK
GEELONG will wait to make a call on whether Zach Tuohy will play his 200th game this weekend or miss just his eighth match in eight seasons. Tuohy is battling rib soreness and might have to wait for the Round 17 blockbuster against Richmond on Friday week for his milestone match.
The Irishman was twice collected in the chest in the come-from-behind win over the Western Bulldogs, putting him in doubt for Sunday’s match against Essendon. Geelong football boss Simon Lloyd said Tuohy had “pulled up pretty sore”.
“As the days progress he’s moving more freely,” Lloyd said. “I’m sure, as Chris Scott’s mentioned, he’ll put his hand up nice and high to play this week.
“He’ll be tested and we’ll probably check later on in the week whether he’s available to play against Essendon.”
Tuohy quipped he would have to buy Bulldogs midfielder Jackson Macrae a pint for a heavy hit last Friday night, which left him winded and wounded. He returned to the field only to receive another blow to the same part of his chest in some friendly fire from Gary Rohan.
Tuohy had played 138 consecutive games until the start of last year, a streak that dated back to the end of 2012, when he was sidelined with a knee injury.
He said at one point he was struggling to breathe.
“My ribs are a bit tender, I’m not going to lie, but they’re not as bad as they could have been,” Tuohy told Fox Footy on Saturday.
“Jackson actually did say to me late in the game that it was him and apologised, which was totally uncalled for because it’s one of the parts of the game we need to protect.
“The game’s getting sanitised — and rightly so because we need to look after everybody — but there needs to be an element of danger in playing the game.
“If somebody wants to get you in the ribs, I think a good AFL player should try and put that guy in half. That’s what he did, it was a good hit.”
The Cats are also sticking to their long-term plan with captain Joel Selwood, who has missed the past two games.
Coach Chris Scott revealed last week Selwood was battling a knee setback.
“He’s running freely at the moment but … we’ve always got a longer-term plan for Joel,” Lloyd told the club’s website.
“We’ve got to think further down the track for him but he’s doing a large body of work.”
Lloyd said there were “no issues whatsoever” with veteran defender Harry Taylor (right), who finished the game with a swollen eye.
But the season is over for promising tall forward Nathan Kreuger as he prepares for knee surgery.
Kreuger has returned to Victoria and will have the procedure on Thursday.
“He did have some knee soreness so we had that investigated up here on the Gold Coast (and) had a surgeon look at the scans as well, which showed he needs to go in for an arthroscope,” Lloyd said.
“Nathan’s returned (home) and Julian Feller will operate on his knee to clean things up to make sure he’s right to go come pre-season.”