Key forward Kennedy in race against time to face Cats
GEELONG is preparing to add Coleman medallist Jeremy Cameron to its team this week at the same time West Coast battles to get its Coleman winner Josh Kennedy on the park.
The Eagles spearhead did not train on Wednesday ahead of his team’s flight to Avalon for the Geelong game on Saturday.
He was grounded by an ankle injury suffered against Collingwood last week. West Coast coach Adam Simpson said Kennedy was still sore and would be given extra time to recover before a decision was made on his availability.
“He won’t train today but I think he’s still available,” Simpson said. “He’s just a bit sore from the five games he’s played. It’s just whether we roll him out there or we freshen him up.
“We’ve toyed with resting JK over the years and it seems to work itself out. His body tells us if he actually can’t get up for the game. If he plays he’ll be 100 per cent.
“It was a six-day break last week and he copped a couple of knocks. We’ll see how he runs (inside) and we’ll see how he pulls up.”
Simpson said it wouldn’t be unusual for the Eagles to select players who weren’t able to train during the week. He said Nic Naitanui wasn’t ever required to train to be selected and multiple other players were to be given Wednesday’s session off.
The Eagles also have to make a decision around premiership captain Shannon Hurn after he missed the Collingwood clash with a calf injury. “He’s more unlikely than likely,” Simpson said.
The Eagles have a long injury list with Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo and Liam Ryan among the other big names unavailable.
They have also won only one game at Geelong this century.
“They (Geelong) are hard to play there. That’s that challenge in sports. We’ve got to be at our best to beat them,” Simpson said.
Despite Geelong’s unconvincing form so far, Simpson predicted the Eagles would have their “hands full” trying to curtail Cats twin towers Cameron and Tom Hawkins in their first outing together. “They’re a good side, they’ve won three games. They haven’t played their best footy, neither have we.”