Heeney, meeny, miny, mo – Kola draws Swans star for showdown
IN-FORM Geelong defender Jake Kolodjashnij has confirmed he will take Sydney star Isaac Heeney in a match-up that could swing Saturday’s grand final.
Heeney dominated in round 2 when the Swans beat the Cats, booting five goals and picking up three Brownlow Medal votes.
While he dominated that night, the clean-cut All-Australian Swan has been quiet so far this finals series, booting
one goal each in Sydney’s two wins.
Kolodjashnij looms as a suitable match-up given he has played on dangerous mediumsized forwards throughout his career. Most famously, Kolodjashnij manned Dustin Martin in the 2020 grand final, and while Martin booted four goals to win the Norm Smith Medal, Kolodjashnij played the champion as tight as he could.
The reliable Cat is coming off possibly the best game of his career in the preliminary final win over the Brisbane Lions, when he had a careerhigh 23 disposals.
“(Heeney) is a quality player, that is probably the matchup most likely for me when he is forward,” Kolodjashnij said. “He had a really good game last time so if I can limit his influence as best I as possible that is going to go a long way in helping us win.”
Kolodjashnij’s defence looks set to face hampered Swan Sam Reid, who has been under an injury cloud all week due to a sore groin.
The Cats will try to exploit Reid and Lance Franklin by running hard to attack whenever possible.
“We have a really good running back six so we are going to
try and run off our opponents and test them out where we can,” Kolodjashnij said.
The defender’s career-best performance in the preliminary final game came after he was only a 50-50 proposition to play as he worked through a knee injury.
Kolodjashnij admitted he did fear he would be forced to watch the final from the stands and just took it “day by day” to get fit.
“You don’t get the chance to play prelims all that often so I wanted to put my best foot forward and take it in my stride,” he said.
“I was lucky to tick the boxes and play, and it was an awesome result in the end.”