Georgie on track for Roos rumble

GEELONG is poised to name star Georgie Prespakis for Saturday’s elimination final against North Melbourne with a Friday fitness test likely to decide whether her ankle is up for the blockbuster.

The gun midfielder (pictured) has been Geelong’s only injury issue heading into the AFLW finals series.

Prespakis finished equalsecond alongside Richmond ace Mon Conti in the AFLW coaches player of the year, falling nine votes behind to Roos rival Jasmine Garner despite missing two games due to suspension.

The Cat rolled her ankle in Saturday’s thumping win over Sydney and has spent the week diligently rehabbing the injury, including hours running in the pool at GMHBA Stadium to build up strength.

She was set for her first run on the ankle at training on Thursday night and will test it again on Friday, but Geelong coach Dan Lowther said Prespakis was “in the team” for now.

“We are confident she will play and play a significant role for us as she has this season,” he said.

“She is in good spirits, she missed those two games midyear, which cut her pretty deep, and she was always looking forward to playing if we got to the finals to make up for those games.

“She is going to do some training (Thursday) on it for the first time, we are confident that (Thursday) is just another stepping stone on her road to playing on Saturday.”

Lowther said the Cats coaches would sit down after

We are confident she will play and play a significant role for us as she has this season.

CATS COACH DAN LOWTHER

Thursday’s training to pick a team and were weighing up one change but were “reluctant to make change for change’s sake”.

The Cats are expecting a tough and tight game early on Saturday night, with Lowther sure his improving engine room can handle the experienced Roos on the inside.

“I have no doubt our players can match North Melbourne in that space, we have shown all year we are a good contested team,” he said.

“I think it’s going to be really, really hard and tough to start with until a team finds and edge and then it could be a bit more free flowing.”

Lowther said he had rewatched Geelong’s round 4 loss to North Melbourne, a game played in waterlogged, “horrendous” conditions in Tasmania.

“A lot of our KPIs around that game were in the positive for us in terms of what we measure as success,” he said.