52 — Centralian Advocate, Friday, February 28, 2014

52 SPORT FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28 2014

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Young Cats expected to mark territory in AliceGEELONG defender TomLonergan feels there’s ahealthy competition for spotsheading into Round 1 of thehome-and-away season nextmonth after several off-seasondepartures.

Lonergan said tonight’sNAB Challenge match in AliceSprings was a time for the nextgeneration of Cats to step upafter the club lost players withexperience of nine premier-ships and more than 800games.

Midfielder Joel Corey re-tired at the end of 2013 after276 games and three flags,while veteran trio Paul Chap-man (251 games, three prem-ierships), Josh Hunt (198 andtwo) and James Podsiadly (83and one) weren’t given con-tract extensions.

Add to that the long-termknee injuries of Nathan Vardyand Daniel Menzel, and there’splenty of opportunities for theyoungsters to step up.

“Obviously we had a fewsenior guys exit the club lastyear,” he said.

“There will be positions up

for grabs, it’s just a matter ofthe younger guys showing a bitof form and making sure theytry to cement themselves intothe team.”

Lonergan said first-gamersJake Kolodjashnij and JarradJansen had earned theirchance to impress.

Former Gold Coast SunJosh Caddy has also had a fan-tastic pre-season that showedduring the Cats’ two-point winover Collingwood last week.

The 29-year-old couldn’t behappier for injury-hamperedteammate Hamish McIntoshafter he was selected to play his

first game since Round 7, 2012.McIntosh joined Geelong fromthe Kangaroos at the end of2012, but did not play a game ina 2013 season ruined by knee,ankle and achilles problems.

“I think he just wanted toget home safely (on Wednes-day) and stay safe until we gotup to Alice Springs,” Lonergansaid.

“He got through training onWednesday, obviously he’shad so many issues with hisbody over the years.

“It will be great to see himrun out there, it’s been nearlytwo years since he’s played.

“He’ll take a lot out of thematch and hopefully be rightto go in Round 1.”

Lonergan is wary of a quick-improving Dees outfit undernew coach Paul Roos.

The 2011 premiership playersaid the Cats were looking for-ward to a tough match and hadnothing but admiration for theopposition coach.

“No doubt Roosy will bringa little bit of the Sydney gameplan to Melbourne and he’s afantastic coach,” he said.

“They’ve got some reallygood players as well who’vehad good pre-seasons.”

Jordan McArdleFOOTBALL

Motlop on sidelines after knee surgeryTHERE are no Territory-bredplayers in Geelong’s side toface Melbourne in AliceSprings tonight.

Matthew Stokes was restedfor tonight’s NAB Challengeclash, while fellow NT talentSteven Motlop is recoveringfrom minor knee surgery.

Motlop has targeted around five return after he flewto London for surgery to cor-rect the patella tendinitis issuehe carried throughout 2013.

“We wanted to go straightto the best in the world, and hewent in and fixed it,” Motlopsaid. “It’s travelling really wellso, hopefully, I can come backin round five or six.

“I’ve already started doingsome squatting and I can’t feelthe pain that I used to, so he’sobviously done a good job.”

The enigmatic small for-ward – who booted a career-best 44 goals in 2013 – plans tostart running again in the com-ing fortnight.

“I’ve got to do somestrengthening in my knee firstbecause I’ve lost around myknee, my quad and my calf,” hesaid. “One I do that I’ll get intoa couple of weeks of running,followed by a couple of weeksof full training, and then tryand get some match fitness be-fore I return.

“Not to rush it and stir it upagain is the main thing.”

Motlop looked on the brightside of his disappointing injuryand feels that it could be achance for an emerging playerto step up.

“It gives an opportunity foryounger guys like Lincoln Mc-Carthy to come in,” he said.

“I think the fans want to seethese younger guys, becausethey haven’t had the oppor-tunity to see them.”

Melbourne’s Dom Barry,originally from Central Aus-tralia Football League sideFederal, is the lone NT playerinvolved in the match.

Selwood joins raft of stars as Cats eye up clash with Crows

GEELONG skipper Joel Sel-wood headlines an exciting listof inclusions for his side’s NABChallenge clash with Mel-bourne at TIO Traeger ParkOval in Alice Springs tonight.

The triple-premiership mid-fielder was included in theCats’ 29-man squad and will

appear in his first match for2014 after having minor footsurgery last month.

As predicted by footballmanager Neil Balme, the Catshave sent a strong side to theRed Centre in preparation fortheir round-one date with theAdelaide Crows

“We’ve only got the three(pre-season) games, so we’retrying to find out who’s going

to play round one,” Balme said.However, experienced pair

Andrew Mackie and MathewStokes have been rested.

Ex-Kangaroo HamishMcIntosh will make his long-awaited debut in navy andwhite after being traded at theend of 2012, with the 203cmtall to take the ruck duties afterNathan Vardy’s season-endingknee injury.

Stars Jimmy Bartel, StevenJohnson, Tom Hawkins andJames Kelly are also included,while draftees Jake Kolodjash-nij, Jarrad Jansen and NickBourke will all get their chanceto impress.

Alice Springs football fanswon’t get to see exciting Deestalent Jay Kennedy-Harris,with the first-year player restafter his heroics against Rich-

mond earlier this month. Alleyes will be on emergingsharp-shooter Jesse Hogan,who is yet to make his seniordebut for the Demons.

The 19-year-old, who wasdrafted with pick No. 2 in the2012 AFL National Draft,booted 39 goals for Mel-bourne’s VFL affiliate sideCasey Scorpions in 2013.

Melbourne small forward

Shannon Byrnes will line upagainst his former club, whileformer No. 1 draft pick JackWatts could be tried out in themidfield after showing promiseduring an intra-club match.

Cameron Pedersen wasoriginally in Melbourne’ssquad before suffering a ham-string injury at training onWednesday. He’ll be replacedby rookie ruckman Max King.

Jordan McArdleFOOTBALL

Geelong’s Tom Lonergan celebrates a Cats victory with Steve Johnson and Harry Taylor Picture: GLENN FERGUSON

Geelong’s Steven Motlop