Geelong coach Chris Scott said the early feedback on Jack Henry’s hamstring is that it’s not a cause for concern after the defender was subbed out against Essendon on Friday night.
Henry, who was sidelined for five weeks with a hamstring sustained against Melbourne in Round 4, was replaced by Jhye Clark who made his return to the seniors after two concussions in the VFL.
“He just had a little bit of a tight hamstring,” Scott clarified after the Cats’ 44-point win.
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“The takeaway is they say he’s OK. If that was an important detail, they would have told me (if it was the same hamstring as before).
“And it was good to get a little bit of exposure for Mitch Knevitt, playing a full game, and Jhye Clark coming in as well, they’ve both been in great form in our VFL team.”
Meanwhile, he said it was a similar story with Jack Martin, who was a last-minute exclusion with “tightness”.
“He was a little bit tight in the last 24 hours or so, and in the end, there were enough reasons to say let’s take the more conservative route and get him right for next week,” he said.
“It’s reasonable to say it was an ultra-conservative call on a guy with a pretty lengthy injury history, he’s been in great form, and we’re really excited for what he can do for us.
“The risk-reward just didn’t seem to add up with Jack.
“There’s no injury, (I’m) supremely confident he’ll hit the ground running on Monday.”
Scott said his team’s execution was a bit off at times but praised the tenacity of the Bombers, who rallied in the third term on the back of 10 possessions from Zach Merrett.
“It didn’t feel … like a game against a team that just don’t have any players left,” he said.
“A couple of times we had players out inside 50 and just couldn’t convert.
“At half time I did make the point: ‘Hey if you’re in a position to kick a goal, just kick it’.”
Meanwhile, he pointed to Tom Stewart’s ability to scrap and the continued emergence of its first pick in the 2023 national draft, Connor O’Sullivan, although the Cats allowed some “easy goals in the third” as the Bombers rallied.
“The one who should excite Geelong supporters is Connor O’Sullivan, he’s just growing with each game he plays,” he said.
“It’s exciting for us to sit back and think, maybe Connor O’Sullivan and Sam De Koning can play together for another 10 or 15 years, that would be a pretty good combination based on what we’re seeing at the moment.”
With minimal injury list and now sitting second with two games to go, Scott was very pleased with where the team was currently at.
“If every year in October or November somebody said this is where you’ll be in mid-August, you’d take it for sure,” he said.
“We feel like we’re in good shape, both in terms of the way we have been playing and our availability.”
Like O’Sullivan, Scott said young forward Shannon Neale continued to improve, booting the Cats’ first three majors on Friday night.
“He’s a real threat in a lot of areas,” he said.
“My line was he’s the overnight success that’s taken five years; he just works so hard at his game.
“He walked into our club a brilliant athlete.
“It doesn’t surprise us at all the way he started the game. 203cm, supreme athlete, the signs are good with him.”
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