Cats ponder best spot for Cockatoo

GEELONG is grappling with Nakia Cockatoo’s best position, daring to believe they might finally be rewarded for their investment and patience with the perennially injured star.

Cockatoo is enjoying one of the strongest pre-seasons of his short career, effectively training without restriction after recent years of injury setbacks.

The 23-year-old has not played an AFL game since Round 3, 2018, but trained through parts of the October-November off-season and is being unleashed in high-intensity training.

Even in a half of VFL football this year — the only match he played in 2019 — Cockatoo’s presence at the contest and his explosiveness with the ball were enough to confirm that he was worth a new contract — despite years of knee and soft-tissue injuries.

Geelong football manager Simon Lloyd said the Cats were striking the balance between letting him loose without putting him at unnecessary risk of aggravating past issues.

“To a degree we are letting him go,” Lloyd said.

“Nakia Cockatoo was a top-10 pick and he’s a great talent. He’s powerful, he’s explosive and he can make a big difference to this football club in 2020, so we do need to be very smart.

“But it has been a long period of time since he’s played. He’s actually doing a lot of work and he has got a lot of work under his belt over the past couple of months.”

With fast closing speed, a thirst for physical pressure and line-breaking dash, Geelong is using his long-overdue run of good health over the pre-season to properly analyse his best role for the side.

Despite the loss of midfield star Tim Kelly, fourtime St Kilda best-andfairest winner Jack Steven and — potentially — a rebuilt Cockatoo provide immediate midfield options for the Cats.