Lowther Provides Update on Chloe Scheer's Progress

I spoke to her this morning, she’s out of the moonboot, the surgeon said she’s well ahead of expectation in regards to her comeback to be ready to play.

She’s in really good spirits, which put me in good spirits, so there’s hope that she can get out on the field (before the end of the home-and-away season).

(Scheer’s) been given the all-clear (to begin running). She’s been doing a lot behind the scenes in regards to her conditioning and touch while she’s been unable to do much movement.

She feels great, (her) foot feels really good, so now it’s just a matter of if there’s enough time to get her in a position to play.

If there was a chance for to play and she’s healthy, I think for her to play at least some football this year would be a real benefit. 

Lowther on Saturday's Clash with Richmond

It will be a tough battle. It is a big game for us in particular, we feel like we are still building our footy to play the way we want to play.

Last week was a good step in that direction, but Richmond have had a really good start to the year.

It will be a really interesting game for us, we feel like the hour glass has been tipped from the start and that sand is coming to an end.

This week we want to make sure that we play our best footy against a strong team.

They are a really strong midfield group, the way they get the ball from inside to out and move the ball with some real efficiency. That is something we need to make sure that we try and stifle. 

Lowther on how the Cats Managed the Condensed Period

Coming out the back of the really highly congested period, we planned to have a bit more of a regular week this week.

Off the back of travel to Sydney last week, it was 28 degrees and a pretty taxing game in regards to the heat and the way it was played.

We pulled it back a little bit this week to put a full stop on that congested period, so a bit of a lighter week to get the girls ready to go and best prepared.

I think next week we will probably go back to what a regular week looks like for us, but it was nice full stop to what has been a really busy schedule.

Lowther on the New Look Midfield

We talked about Caitlin Thorne coming in to give us a bit of a spike in contested footy and some energy, the way she plays as a first year player which was great.

She had some critical moments in the game where her pressure was enough to create a turnover and an opportunity, and Bella Smith was the same.

That was why she was brought in, off the back of a bit of an interrupted preseason for her and she is now at the level to be able to have an impact in a game.

She came on and did what she does best, she was strong around contest, kept her feet, cut and drove with the ball and she is a real contested player.