Injured four in the mix
Scott Pendlebury, Anthony Rocca, Josh Fraser and Dayne Beams are all a chance to play in the preliminary final
Anthony Rocca (ankle), Scott Pendlebury (leg), Josh Fraser (knee) and Dayne Beams (calf) could all return for this week’s clash with Geelong after missing the win over Adelaide through injury.
Midfielder Shane O’Bree said his injured teammates were doing everything possible to make a speedy return.
“All four of them are basically doing a bit of light work, a little light running at the moment so they’re giving themselves every chance to play a game of football this week,” he said.
“Wednesday is our main training session, so hopefully they get through that and it is just a matter of how they recover.”
Even if they don’t bounce back in time, O’Bree said he was confident anyone wearing the black and white could handle the pressure of finals football.
“We’ve got plenty of depth at the moment. The VFL team is going really well. We’ve got a full squad to choose from and any player who gets an opportunity to play senior football at the moment we’ve got full belief in,” he said.
The 30-year-old said his side’s finals experience would come in handy the further it progressed into September.
“I suppose we can lean on that a fair bit with the experience side of things. A lot of our group now have played nearly double figures in finals,” he said.
“We’ve got a fair bit of experience there so hopefully the guys that haven’t played too many games are talking to them about how to approach a preliminary final. The first two finals, the way everyone’s handled themselves has been great.”
O’Bree said the unseasonally hot conditions last Saturday would have no effect on this week’s performance against the Cats.
“By all our tests we normally do after games it hasn’t changed really. In my personal opinion the temperature on the weekend wasn’t a major factor. Just a bit dry in the mouth, that was about it.”