Bates was forced to miss the start of the season with a back injury, but the 176cm fleet footed defender has been back into full training for a number of weeks and is ready to be unleashed against the Melbourne aligned Casey Scorpions.
Fellow rookie listed player James Toohey has not been named in the 27-man squad and will miss one more week with an ankle injury sustained in the practice match series.
Bates, who will turn 19 later this month, is one of 15 AFL senior & rookie listed players named in the squad and is joined on the list of ‘incoming’ players by AFL omission Jackson Sheringham and small forward Lincoln McCarthy, who was a late withdrawal from last week’s AFL side for ‘team balance’ reasons.
The VFL Cats also look set to welcome back skipper Dominic Gleeson, who has completed his one match suspension stemming from the 2013 VFL Grand Final. While ‘Domma’ has acted as ‘fill in’ captain on a number of occasions, it is the first time he will lead the side as the official team captain.
All 23 players that played in the 47 point Round 1 victory over a much-improved Bendigo Gold last weekend have been named in the extended squad.
After another eye catching performance as a makeshift ruckman, VFL recruit Fraser Fort has once again been selected as the Cats 23rd player this weekend.
Casey has finished in the top 4 in each of the past four seasons and the two sides have played out some hard fought memorable matches through out that period of time.
It will be first time the two sides have met since last year’s Qualifying Final under lights at Simonds Stadium - a match which proved to be something of an arm wrestle for most of the night, before the Cats ran away with it in the final quarter - recording a 49 point victory.
Both teams however, have named vastly different line-ups from the 46 players that took to the field that night.
The Scorpions defeated Essendon by 6 points in a nail-biting Round 1 clash at Windy Hill last Sunday. Coached by former Carlton player Rohan Welsh, the Scorpions have named a strong squad that includes former Melbourne captain Jack Trengrove, 2010 All Australian ruckman Mark Jamar, two-time AFL premiership player Shannon Byrnes, Sam Blease, Jack Fitzpatrick, James Strauss and first round draft selections Jimmy Toumpas and Christian Salem. These household names are well complemented by a host of talented VFL listed such as their skipper Evan Panozza, former Demon defender Troy Davis, strong marking forward Tim Smith and the electric goal sneak Jake Best.
The match kicks off at 2.00pm with the Casey Scorpions Vs Port Melbourne Development League match commencing at 11.00am. For those that can’t get to Cranbourne on Sunday, be sure to follow the match at @GeelongVFL.
Bendigo Bank Cats – Round 2 Selected Side
B: Jed Bews, Jake Kolodjashnij, Zac Bates
HB: Jackson Thurlow, Matthew Sully, Nick Bourke
C: Jarrad Jansen, Jackson Sheringham, Darcy Lang
HF: Bradley Hartman, Josh Walker, Dominic Gleeson
F: Lincoln McCarthy, Joel Hamling, Michael Luxford
R: Fraser Fort* Jordan Schroder, Jesse Stringer
I/C: James Linton, Mitch Herbison, Jack Hollmer, Chris Lynch, Tom Maas, Kane Leersen, Daniel Gibbs, Daniel Measures, Luke Bath
(*23rd Player)
