Varcoe (shoulder), Rivers (knee) and Cowan (hamstring) will all be looking to get their seasons back on track and put their names up for AFL selection, after all suffering significant periods on the sidelines in early part of the year.
A huge crowd is tipped to attend the match that brings together two of the in-form teams of the VFL competition with the Cats (4 wins) and North Ballarat Roosters (3 wins) both looking to continue their recent winning streaks.
VFL listed regulars Andrew Banjanin and Tommy Maas have also been added to the Cats 27 man squad, while St Mary’s young gun Callen Wade will play his second match as the 23rd player after a promising debut.
At this stage first year player Jackson Thurlow (cheekbone) is the only outgoing player from the squad that defeated the Coburg Tigers by 20 points. Thurlow is expected to return following the VFL Bye, along with a number of other currently sidelined Cats.
After a slow start to the season, the young North Ballarat Roosters side is back in finals contention with 3 consecutive victories against Port Melbourne, Bendigo Gold and the Sandringham Zebras.
The Roosters, who are partially aligned to North Melbourne, are coached by former Geelong player and legendary VFL coach Gerald Fitzgerald, who last weekend achieved the incredible milestone of coaching his 300th VFL game.
A few of the ‘old firm’ that helped the Roosters win 3 consecutive VFL premierships (2008-2010) under ‘Fitzy’ still feature in the current line up - players such as Lachlan George, Billy Driiscoll and Liston Trophy winners Myles Sewell and Stephen Clifton are now joined by an exciting group of new players that includes Liam Hoy, Oliver Tate, Patrick Nicholls, Bryce Curnow, James Keble and Nathan Horbury.
The North Melbourne contingent at North Ballarat includes players such as Liam Anthony, Cameron Richardson, the Delaney brothers Luke and Cameron and former Port Adelaide player Ben Jacobs.
The match kicks off at 11.00am on Saturday morning with the gates opening at 10.00am. As is the case for all Geelong VFL ‘home’ matches - 2013 Geelong Cats gain free entry.
The much-anticipated VFL match will be followed by the all important Round 12 TAC Cup match between the Geelong Falcons and the Oakleigh Chargers starting at 2.00pm. For those patrons only wanting to attend the TAC Cuo match – entry will be free after 12.30pm.
The VFL match is being played first to allow all players, staff and Geelong supporters’ sufficient time to travel up to the MCG for the Geelong versus Hawthorn blockbuster.
You can also participate in the Cats live VFL chat with VFL writer Nathan Kettle by clicking here.
Bendigo Bank Cats – Round 13 Selected Side
B: Jed Bews, Jared Rivers, Matthew Sully
HB: Cameron Eardley, Mitchell Brown, Rob Condy
C: Travis Varcoe, Troy Selwood (c), Billie Smedts
HF: Brad Hartman, Joshua Walker, Dominc Gleeson
F: Ryan Bathie, Nathan Vardy, Jaxson Barham
R: Trent West, George Horlin-Smith, Joshua Cowan
I/C: Andrew Banjanin, Piers Flanagan, Jack Hollmer, Mitch Herbison, Daniel Gibbs, Mark Corrigan, Ben Raidme, Tom Maas, Callen Wade (23rd Player)
