Luckless Cats Nathan Vardy and Josh Cowan will make their long-awaited returns from injury when the VFL Cats take on Essendon at Simonds Stadium this Saturday.

The Cats will also be boosted by the inclusion of Mathew Stokes and Jed Bews, who will line up for the VFL Cats after being omitted from the AFL side.

After tearing his ACL at training in early 2014 and a number of setbacks, Vardy will play his first game of football in almost 18 months.

Cowan will return to football after injuring his hamstring in his AFL comeback against Collingwood in round 6.

After 10 weeks in rehab, the 24-year-old has completed three weeks of full training and is fit and ready to play.

After a standout performance against Footscray last week, the VFL Cats will lose Billie Smedts after he was selected to play AFL in Canberra this weekend.

Interestingly, Jack Hollmer will play his 106th VFL match and will becoming the Geelong VFL games record holder, overtaking Trent West.

The VFL Cats cannot afford a loss at this stage of the season as they desperately try to keep their finals hopes alive.

The Cats currently sit 11th on the VFL ladder with 5 wins and 7 losses. The Bombers are 5th with 8 wins and 4 losses.

Last time these two sides met was round 5, 2015.

The game, a curtain raiser at Etihad Stadium, was one to forget for the Cats. They went down to the Bombers 6.7.43 to 19.21.135.

Geelong had just six AFL listed players on the park that day, whereas 16 have been named in this week’s squad.

Head to head, the two sides have met five times, Geelong 3 wins and Essendon 2.

The squad of 27 will be cut back to 23 on Saturday morning.

CATS VFL TEAM

B: Ruggles, Robinson, Cunico

HB: Bews, Hollmer, Jansen

C: Gore, Cockatoo, Menzel

HF: Luxford, Read, Blease

F: Bates, Vardy, Stokes

R: Simpson, Horlin-Smith, Cowan

I/C: Sheringham, Linton, Raidme, Gibbs, Maas, Farrelly, Paliouras, Lucey, Dixon (23rd player)

 

VFL Round 15

Geelong Cats vs Essendon

11.00am, Saturday 25th July

Simonds Stadium

Follow @GeelongVFL on twitter for live updates

The match will also be broadcast via the Essendon website - http://www.essendonfc.com.au/vfl/vfl-radio

The radio broadcast can be accessed either by mobile or desktop and will commence at 10.55am.

 

VFL Admission Prices

Geelong Cats members FREE

Adults $10

Concession $5

Children under 15 FREE

The Polly Farmer Gate (Moorabool Street) will be open from 10am.

Seating will be available in the Reg Hickey Stand.