PARFITT TACKLES HAMMY REHAB

GEELONG is confident young midfielder Brandan Parfitt will be available for the start of preseason after successful hamstring surgery.

Parfitt (pictured) was one of a number of Cats who suffered soft-tissue injuries late in the season when he went down in the semi-final against GWS, but football manager Simon Lloyd said he had started rehab in Perth and would be available to start training when Geelong returned later in the year.

“Brandan Parfitt had his hamstring operated on in Western Australia on Saturday and he will now commence his rehabilitation with our head physio, who is in WA at the moment,” Lloyd said.

“Our rehab co-ordinator is there too and is supporting Brandan in the early stages of post-surgery.

“It was a high-grade tear and there was significant damage. But the start of pre-season will be late November/early December, and this surgery is normally a 12-week turnaround to a return to playing and we expect Brandan to have a strong pre-season.”

Patrick Dangerfield will have his finger and thumb operated on this week, while Tom Stewart continues his rehab following Lisfranc surgery.

Stewart had been eyeing off an unlikely return to play in the grand final had Geelong defeated Melbourne in the preliminary final last week.

A series of soft-tissue injuries to key players at crucial times hurt the Cats across the season and Lloyd said those matters, along with other areas, would be looked at as part of the end-of-season review.

“When you look across the competition there were a number of soft-tissue issues across clubs late in the season but like anything in our program, whether it is on-field or offfield high-performance, we are constantly reviewing and we will look at all aspects of our program and where we need to improve,” he said.