On Sunday Rutten, who missed Adelaide’s clash with North Melbourne through injury, was named in the 30-man Dream Team squad to tackle Victoria.
The All-Australian defender suffered bruising to his lower back in a marking contest against Carlton in round six and, despite missing last week, is doing everything possible to ensure he’s ready to go on Saturday.
“My back is coming along slowly. It’s probably taken longer than I would’ve liked, but it’s getting there,” Rutten said on Monday.
“I’m pretty confident I’ll be all right. I’ll just treat the injury as I normally would and, hopefully, I’ll be able to put my hand up.”
Rutten finds himself in a similar situation to Victorian skipper Jonathan Brown, who also missed last weekend’s club match. The former Adelaide rookie said he’d never entertained the idea of using the injury as a legitimate excuse to have the week off.
“Now that the game is only a few days away, it’s pretty exciting. I’d love to play on Saturday and that’s why I’m working so hard to get my back right,” he said.
“Hopefully, I get selected and, if I do, it will be a great game to play in.”
Five of Adelaide’s back six have been selected in the prestigious Dream Team squad.
Veteran Nathan Bassett received a late call-up on Sunday night and will join Nathan Bock, Graham Johncock, Rutten and Dream Team skipper Andrew McLeod on the plane to Melbourne on Wednesday.
Crows skipper Simon Goodwin and in-form forward Brett Burton have also been named in the squad.
The Adelaide defence has conceded an average of just 86 points in the opening seven rounds, to be the second stingiest team in the League behind premiers Geelong.
The Cats have eight representatives across the Dream team and Victorian squads, just one more than Adelaide’s seven.
“It’s good acknowledgement for our defence,” Rutten said.
“We’ve been together for a while now, so we’ve become accustomed to how each other plays and it would be great if we all got to play together in such a big game.”
“The Victorian forward line looks pretty potent with names like Jonathan Brown, Brad Johnson, Steve Johnson and Brendan Fevola up there, so I think it’s fair to say we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
