The injection of height has arrived at a crucial time, with the 3rd placed Cats coming up against the 5th placed Frankston Dolphins in the VFL Match of the Round.
The emerging Dolphins are the talk of the competition and will be keen to take the scalp of the reigning premier.
The match will be the first official ‘home and away’ appearance of the year for both Vardy (groin) and Kersten (hamstring) with both players completing an intensive training program in recent weeks. The inclusion of the two young AFL listed key position players has seen the Cats forward line go from being one of the shortest in the competition to being one of the tallest in the space of a week.
For the first time this season the VFL Cats look set to play two ruckman in Banjanin and the athletic Sandy Robinson who impressed during his VFL debut against Box Hill. The ruck duo will have their hands full as they get set to take on 2011 VFL Team of the Year ruckman Russell Gabriel.
Former Geelong Falcon midfielder Tom Gribble will make his VFL debut with the Cats as the 23rd player. Gribble has been fantastic form throughout the early rounds of the GFL season with Geelong West/St Peter’s.
At this stage Daniel Menzel (knee/suspension) is the only definite ‘out’ from the side that defeated the Box Hill Hawks by 5 points at Simonds Stadium last weekend.
A huge crowd is predicted to attend Frankston Oval on Sunday for the much-anticipated clash. The Frankston Dolphins are one of the in-form teams of the competition having won there past two matches against Port Melbourne and Collingwood.
The improved results have come about for the Simon Goosey coached Dolphins after a strong recruiting campaign, retention of key players and a successful development programs that is producing AFL draftees on a regular basis.
One of the key recruits for the Dolphins is former Cat Scott Simpson who has returned to the VFL after a standout season with Mt Eliza.
Incredibly this will be the first time the Geelong VFL side have played at Frankston since Round 13 2007. On that particular day Leigh Tudor was coach, James Byrne was captain and the side included names such as Henry Playfair, Brent Prismall, Tom Hawkins, Tom Lonergan, Trent West and David Johnson.
Dual AFL premiership player Josh Hunt played that day and has only played 5 VFL games since, but will once again line up at the home of the Dolphins.
The only other player from the current VFL Cats line up that played in that match is veteran utility Jack Hollmer.
For those supporters who have not had the pleasure of attending a match at Frankston Oval and mixing with the army of loyal local (and vocal) supporters – make sure you get down there on Sunday for what is one of the great match day experiences in the VFL competition.
Kick off is at 2pm.
You can also participate in the Cats live VFL chat with VFL writer Nathan Kettle by clicking here.
Bendigo Bank Cats – Round 4 Selected Side
B: Joshua Hunt, Ryan Bathie, Jed Bews
HB: Jackson Thurlow, Matthew Sully, Cameron Eardley
C: Jordan Murdoch, Troy Selwood, Jackson Sheringham
HF: Bradley Hartman, Nathan Vardy, Jack Hollmer
F: Joel Hamling, Mitchell Brown, Shane Kersten
Foll: Andrew Banjanin, Cameron Guthrie, Jordan Schroder
I/C: Dominic Gleeson, Piers Flanagan, Ben Raidme, Daniel Measures, Daniel Gibbs, Sandy Robinson, Mark Corrigan, Jaxson Barham, Tom Gribble (23rd Player)
