MITCH Clark will play his first game since round 4, 2013 when he makes his debut in Geelong colours against Gold Coast in the NAB Challenge in Townsville.
 
Cats coach Chris Scott said on Monday that Clark was unlikely to play much more than half the game against the Suns, but that amount of football would be less than he had been doing during training. 
 
"He'll be managed. We haven't even worked out exactly how that is going to play out across the course of the NAB [Challenge]. A fair bit will have to do with how he plays this week ... we will be cautious early on," Scott said. 
 
 
Clark retired from the game midway through last season after being diagnosed with clinical depression. He had endured a series of soft-tissue injuries as he recovered from a foot injury suffered in 2012, midway through his first year with Melbourne. 
 
He was traded to Geelong in the off-season and has had a relatively injury-free pre-season with a minor calf injury setting him back slightly around Christmas. 
 
Scott said the club recruited Clark mainly as a forward but he could play either forward or ruck, depending on form and the availability of others.

Although the Cats have plenty of players capable of playing in the ruck, Irish rookie Padraig Lucey will travel to Townsville as the club manages the fitness of key talls Hamish McIntosh, Dawson Simpson, Rhys Stanley and Nathan Vardy.

"We have got a lot of potential ruckmen but we don't have many that we can count on right at the moment for every NAB [Challenge] game or even the AFL [season]," Scott said.

Geelong will not take McIntosh, Joel Selwood, Steve Johnson, Jared Rivers and George Horlin-Smith to Townsville but expects to field a relatively strong squad against Gold Coast.

Scott said the club was likely to play at least two of the four players drafted in the 2014 NAB AFL Draft.

While he wouldn't name exactly which draftees were in the frame given the decision was yet to be made, first pick Nakia Cockatoo, Cory Gregson and Dean Gore are considered definite chances.

Scott said he would be comfortable playing all four players but the squad of 26 would be chosen based how best to prepare for round one against Hawthorn. 

Mitch Clark is closing on his first competitive game in almost two years. Picture: AFL Media

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