READY TO CHIP IN

Mended Frawley could be key as Saints look to cool Geelong’s hot forwards

THE three-headed Geelong forward line monster needs to be shut down on Friday night and premiership defender James Frawley could make his St Kilda debut just in time to help his new team’s cause.

Frawley, 32, won a premiership at Hawthorn and came out of retirement to join the Saints at the end of last year. But he suffered a serious hamstring injury in a pre-season game against Carlton and is yet to represent his new team at AFL level.

Ratten said Frawley, who got through a VFL match 11 days ago but didn’t play last weekend as St Kilda’s reserves had a bye, was “pretty close” to selection, right when his team needed him most.

Geelong’s dynamic trio of Tom Hawkins, Jeremy Cameron and Gary Rohan combined for 15 goals in the Cats’ demolition of Richmond last

Friday night, upping the urgency for the Saints to bolster their backline

“(Geelong’s tall forwards are) all in good form, and who do you go to? We got ‘Chip’ in to play on big forwards and to be part of our backline, so if we think he’s ready to go we’ll pick him, we just have to tick that off with the high-performance boys and see where that sits,” Ratten said on Wednesday.

“He’ll be pretty close. We’ll work that out this afternoon but he’s done everything right so he’ll be in the selection chat.

“There’s no bigger test, is there? The Cats in great form, just beaten the Tigers, up and about, and if you’re probably asking Scotty (Geelong coach Chris Scott) what does he want from his team, to have their key forwards kick 15 goals between three of them, that’s probably what he’s after.

“They’re in good form and we’ll have some challenges and we’ll get to see where we’re at.”

Jack Higgins, Jack Billings and Rowan Marshall were restricted to light training duties on Wednesday but Ratten said all three would be fit to play the Cats.

Midfielder Seb Ross will also return after being a late withdrawal last week after his wife gave birth to twin boys.