ASSISTANT coach Matthew Scarlett has sung the praises of Mark Blicavs after his impressive outing in defence in Townsville last Sunday.

 Scarlett told the Geelong Advertiser that the move gives Geelong’s defence another string to its bow.

“I thought he was one of our better players (against the Gold Coast). He was really strong in the air and he showed us he can easily be put down back throughout the year,” he said. 

The performance was even more impressive given that his direct opponent was the Suns' skipper Tom Lynch.

“He was involved in six or seven strong one-on-ones against Lynch and halved all of those contests. He didn’t get beat and played very well, which is encouraging for us.”

 “He has played down there before and handled himself pretty well, and Lynch is probably the best key forward in the competition and that first goal I don’t think anyone would have been able to stop it.”

The successful outing doesn’t mean Blicavs will be a permanent member of the backline however.

“He will spend a little bit of time on the wing and in the ruck this week, but we’ve definitely got it up our sleeve to throw him down back because he showed last week that he can be a really high quality defender,” Scarlett said.

 “He is so versatile, so Harry (Taylor) will play down back and (Jake) Kolodjashnij will probably take that second tall, but we’ll have Blitz as an option to go down back.”