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Geelong midfielder James Kelly has talked up the prospect of speedy forward Travis Varcoe returning to the team for Saturday night’s AFL elimination final against Fremantle.
Varcoe has battled foot problems all season and only played one quarter against the Western Bulldogs in round 22 before again dropping out of the side.
He was seen at training this week wearing a “moon boot” to protect his foot.
“He’s right to go, he’s ready to play,” Kelly said on Wednesday.
“He only had that boot on for a little bit, just to settle it down.
“Given his history over the last year, it was more a precautionary thing … there was nothing overly wrong with his foot.
“We just wanted to wrap him up in cotton wool and give him the best chance to play in finals.”
Varcoe is a two-time premiership player and Kelly said the Cats would be better off if they could regain his defensive pressure around the forward line.
The Cats suffered a setback earlier this week when star utility Steve Johnson received a one-game suspension.
That prompted some strong criticism of the tribunal system on Tuesday from Geelong football manager Neil Balme and Kelly echoed that frustration.
“Some things, some weeks can get looked at and not other weeks, depending on the game and maybe depending on who’s looking at it,” Kelly said.
“It can get confusing.”
Geelong will start favourites against Fremantle and they are two of the most in-form finals teams.
The defending premiers have won six of their last seven matches and the Dockers have won eight out of nine.
No team outside the top four has won the flag since 1998, but whoever takes out this MCG match will have strong potential to go deep into September.
Geelong have won three of the last five premierships and Kelly said their rich finals experience was a major asset.
It contrasts sharply with the Dockers, who have made the finals for only the second time in the last six seasons.
“It’s something in finals that you really have to get used to, the intensity and a lot of our guys have played a lot of finals,” Kelly said.
“Our young guys have played finals, too.”
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