GEELONG expects superstar Patrick Dangerfield to recover from repeated corks to his calf in time to be recalled for the Cats' huge round seven clash against Fremantle on Saturday.
Dangerfield was missing from the Cats’ 60-point demolition of the Kangaroos on Sunday after the club opted to rest him off a six-day break.
The Cats (4-2) will host the vastly improved Dockers (5-1) at GMHBA Stadium, in what is likely to be billed as one of the matches of the round.
“Yeah, we think that’s likely (that he’ll be back),” Geelong coach Chris Scott said.
“He’s just been a bit unlucky the first month of footy, he got a really bad cork in his quad that he was labouring with. And again, happier to speak about it now, because I tend not to talk about it in the moment because it’s just not something that should be communicated to the opposition.
“He was okay to play, he battled through that a little bit, and then just got a series of corks to the same spot in his calf.
“It was okay coming off a 10-day break last week… he was probably in the similar spot day five this week, but off a six-day break, it just wasn’t right for him to play.
“I don’t know for sure, but the indication is he is likely to play next week.”
KANGAROOS v CATS Full match coverage and stats
Scott was relatively pleased with Geelong's win in Hobart.
The Cats led at every change and piled on 100-plus points for the third time this season, while restricting the Roos to just 61 points (Geelong's best defensive effort for 2022).
“I thought we played pretty well and I wouldn’t underrate the opposition too much, especially their players around the ball,” he said.
“Overall, I thought we got a lot of shots and had the game under control in the second half.
“North kept coming in the last quarter, so I didn’t think it was an uncompetitive game by any stretch.
“It was a bit more the way we want to play this week than we were for probably half the game last week.”
North Melbourne coach David Noble, meanwhile, once again lamented his side’s inability to play good footy for long enough.
Noble also said North Melbourne can ill-afford to turn the ball over as frequently as it does. The Roos had 80 turnovers against the Cats, 73 against the Dogs (in round five) and 73 against the Lions (in round three).
“That level of consistency is just not there,” Noble said.
“Our turnovers today were just terrible; they really hurt us on the scoreboard and have done for a few weeks now, so it’s something we’ve got to address pretty seriously.”
North Melbourne is on the bottom of the ladder with a 1-5 record and a percentage of 60.6 per cent.
The Roos’ average losing margin in 2022 is 53.4 points.
North Melbourne will tackle Carlton (4-2) at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
