Rivals won’t be seeing stars

GEELONG and Hawthorn are adamant they won’t be fixated on each other’s star midfielders in today’s MCG blockbuster.

The Cats will run out with their midfield holy trinity of captain Joel Selwood, champion Gary Ablett and Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield for the first time, while Hawks ball magnet Tom Mitchell is in hot form following his record 54 touches in Round 1.

Cats coach Chris Scott said Mitchell would not be the centre of his attention. “It’s a lot more complicated than it can appear from the outside,” Scott said.

“There are some plans that might make it a lot harder for him but make it easier for Hawthorn on the whole. They’re some of the challenges we’re weighing up. If he has 50 touches against us, it won’t be because we just let him go.

“But I would contend Collingwood didn’t let him go either, they just didn’t do what they planned well enough. We’ll go in with a plan, clearly, but I’m sure Alastair will have the same question put to him.”

Scott said the romance of starting Dangerfield, Ablett and Selwood in the midfield today won’t be lost on him.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson maintains he won’t go in with a preconceived plan to employ a hard tag on one or more of the midfield prime movers.

“That’s been a debate that’s been played out in the media throughout the course of the week ... we’ll play out those scenarios as we go through,” Clarkson said.

“The scoreboard will determine a lot of that — what’s happening on the scoreboard and how much is any one player or group of players contributing to their ability to get in front.

“I think if we’re just trying to focus on three players we’re probably going to be in a bit of trouble.”