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LITTLE-KNOWN defender Brandon Zerk-Thatcher proved he was the answer to Essendon's key-position woes after a starring performance against Geelong on Sunday.
The 21-year-old conceded 14kg in his one-on-one match-up against Tom Hawkins but kept the Cats spearhead to just seven disposals and one goal in the Bombers' four-point win.
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With Cale Hooker set to miss the first month working back from hip surgery, Zerk-Thatcher is ready to add to the one AFL game he managed last year when the Bombers host Fremantle.
"I didn't know much about him before I arrived at the footy club and he's got better and better with every training session and today he was almost best-on-ground," Bombers assistant Blake Caracella said post-game.
"I think he's ready to play round one but I'm not the coach.
"I thought our whole backline was really good today.
"We got beaten at the stoppages pretty badly, (but) the backs stood up, (Jordan) Ridley, Zerk-Thatcher, (Michael) Hurley, (Marty) Gleeson all those guys bounced the ball back out."
Hurley collected 32 disposals playing on Geelong's smaller forward options as the 195cm Zerk-Thatcher wrestled Hawkins and then Esava Ratugolea in the final term.
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The 89kg South Australian can now pencil in a date with Fremantle's Rory Lobb and Matt Taberner on March 21.
He could be joined by Conor McKenna after the Irishman played his first minutes of the pre-season between defence and attack in the VFL curtain-raiser on Sunday.
Caracella confirmed Jake Stringer would be ready to face the Dockers after he missed against the Cats due to personal reasons and sat out the trip to face West Coast last month.
Meantime, the performance of Geelong recruit Jack Steven took Cats' midfield coach Matthew Knights by surprise.
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The former Saint had 26 disposals from 65 per cent game time in his first hitout after calf troubles had plagued his preparation post-Christmas.
"He hasn't lost any of his evasive prowess," Knights said.
"First-up, expectations weren't high on my behalf today of what I would see but he exceeded my expectations with the way he played.
"I thought his contest work was fierce, he used the ball nicely.
"There's a few things we spoke about after the game he'd like to brush up on but all in all it's been a really good journey to get to this point.
"He's going to be quite a significant player for us, even looking on the back of today's performance."
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Knights described the Cats' ruck selection dilemma for the opening clash against Greater Western Sydney as "hazy".
Darcy Fort impressed with 12 disposals and four clearances in the first half before he was replaced by Rhys Stanley after the main break.
"It doesn't make it any clearer at this stage, two or three days before GWS we're going to have to solve that riddle," Knights said.
"Esava did a bit today which was good, he hasn't done any ruck work up to this point in match practice but he did 12-14 minutes in the first half. It's pretty tight that one."
Knights conceded Sam Menegola was scheduled to play a full game in his first match of the summer but was put on ice after half-time after copping a corked thigh.
He added that Mark O'Connor and Jack Henry would be fit for the season-opener despite only playing a half and was also impressed by Brandan Parfitt and Quinton Narkle's increased midfield minutes.
