Dees’ lifeline for veteran Hibberd
MELBOURNE veteran Michael Hibberd has won the race to replace injured defender Joel Smith for Friday night’s blockbuster preliminary final showdown with Geelong at Perth Stadium.
Hibberd, 31, fell out of favour late in the season and hasn’t played since round 22, but his finals fairytale has been revived, after Smith suffered a hamstring injury this week.
The Demons considered recalling speedster Jayden Hunt for his first game since
undergoing ankle surgery last month, but coach Simon Goodwin chose to stick with first-year Demon Jake Bowey.
Goodwin said the Demons had to make “calculated” selection decisions given how high the stakes were as the club chases its first grand final berth in 21 years.
“In terms of risk, we’re at the pointy end of the year,” Goodwin said on Thursday.
“You need to make calculated decisions, but there’s no coming back.
“We need to perform strongly and we need to win
games of footy. We’re at that sudden-death stage of the season.”
Goodwin said he wasn’t into hypotheticals, but stressed Smith could yet prove his fitness for a September 25 premiership playoff if the Demons advance to the grand final.
“We’ve got a lot of guys pressing for selection and Jayden (Hunt) is one of them,” he said.
“He trained strongly on Tuesday and he’s in the mindset of being available and being able to press his case.”
Melbourne’s four emergencies
were qualifying final medical sub James Jordon, Nathan Jones, Jake Melksham and Kade Chandler.
Geelong has lost Brandon Parfitt to injury for the rest of the season, but named last week’s medical sub Zach Guthrie on the bench.
Star Cat Patrick Dangerfield said he was right to go, despite carrying a finger injury in recent weeks.
“It’s great … I can’t wait to play in front of a maxed-out crowd,” Dangerfield said on SEN.
But he said while the promise of what might still be
in store was tempting, the Cats had a focus only on Melbourne, who knocked them off in dramatic circumstances after the siren in round 23.
“You’ve got to win a prelim before you start thinking about the grand final,” he said.
“As much as the carrot is there and the dream is alive, we have got to make sure we take care of business before we start looking too far ahead.”
The Cats’ four emergencies were Luke Dahlhaus, Shaun Higgins, Sam Simpson and Darcy Fort.