1. Supporting the Selwood milestone
“I think it's an opportunity for, not just for everyone within our footy club, but the wider community, all our fans to get along and celebrate something which is a one-off. It's a genuine record that is going to be very, very hard to break in the future and we've had a couple of years where we've had some milestones as a footy club that we haven't been able to share with our supporters.
So, this week at the MCG and next week for our first game back at GMHBA. I'd encourage people to get along and help us celebrate what has been one of the players of his generation."
2. Selfless Selwood
“I think he's a little bit uncomfortable with the awards and recognition that he keeps knocking off because he wants it to be about the team and he wants it to be about the fans as well."
“We were having a conversation just this morning where he was talking about how he feels like he just wants to be the best representative he can of the Geelong footy club, and that's everyone, the supporters as well and that's why I think it would only be fitting if we got huge crowds over the next couple of weeks coming along to recognise him.
“But I brought that up with him as well and he said ‘but don't forget about Tom Hawkins' 300’ when there were no fans. We're trying to make it about him a little bit because he deserves it, and he keeps deflecting it to everyone else and I think that's one of the marks of a great leader.”
3. Rotation Policy
“(Shaun Higgins) is fine so he'll play.”
“We feel like we've got a deep squad that we're going to use and that means that some of our players. including Joel. will be rotated out when they're in rude health. That was the situation with Shaun last week and it'll be the situation with others in the future.
“I do understand that some people on face value might say, well it's only Round 2, how does that make sense, but hopefully you understand a little bit better that if we have a group of players who are going to rotate through, that if we wait to Round 4 or 5 or 6, you're going to have four or five players ready at the same time.”
4. O’Connor/Miers/De Koning Update
“They [O'Connor and Miers] played really well so there's nothing in their preparation that makes us think that they don't look quite ready but…I don't know [the exact time], but I don't think Mark O'Connor has played AFL since July. He had a cracking pre-season but the lack of match practice just gives us a little bit of room for caution.”
“And Gryan, we're edging that way, but we haven't completely ruled out - we'll have a long meeting this afternoon and I'm assuming we'll work through that but I think probably more on the unlikely side.
“[Sam De Koning] is likely. He's available. We are getting some players back, so selection gets a little bit harder for us but it's likely he'll play.”
5. Sam Menegola will make his VFL return this weekend
“Sam will come back this week.”
“Speaking of good runners, we've got some power runners to come back into the team. He's just looked fantastic.
“I think I said last week, the initial prognosis that I was provided in November after the surgery was that he wouldn't play until potentially late May and here we are, it's not even April and he's playing.
“It's one of those things that you need to have a bit of luck with it, which I think he's had, but the preparation has got to be there to meet that opportunity and he's done that really well.”
