Geelong will have to cope with the loss of another top string ruckman after coach Chris Scott ruled Hamish McIntosh out of Friday night’s sudden-death final against North Melbourne.
McIntosh failed to recover from knee soreness and will not take part in the must-win semi-final, but remains a chance to return against Sydney should Geelong qualify for the preliminary final.
“Hamish is sore and he won’t play this week,” Scott declared on Thursday.
“We’re hopeful that Hamish can go through a rehab plan over the next week and a half to get himself in a position, if we’re good enough to win Friday night, to play the following week.”
Having already lost giant Dawson Simpson to a season-ending back injury in early August, the Cats will send a makeshift duo of Mark Blicavs and Josh Walker to battle it out in the middle against the Kangaroos.
“We’ve got a few options with Josh Walker coming into the team, we effectively played with three ruckmen last week so at bare minimum we could go in with Walker and (Mark) Blicavs in the ruck, but we’ve got some other more left-field options that we’re considering as well,” Scott said.
“Tom Hawkins has done a little bit in the past, anyone over 193cm is a candidate.”
McIntosh will miss out on facing his old team after choosing to leave North following eight seasons at the club. The 203cm ruckman managed just eight games across the 2011 and 2012 seasons before not playing at all last year and eventually switching over to Geelong ahead of the 2014 season.
“He’s got a sore knee. He’s had some knee issues previously – this is not related to those.
“This is a separate issue that he’s managed the last few weeks. He didn’t play in our last home and away game.
“We were hopeful that that would be enough to have him in good shape for the finals series, but he just laboured too badly on that sore (knee) on the weekend, so we’ve got to do something about.”
Talented on-baller Steve Johnson was also ruled out after a failed attempt to comeback from an injured foot while integral midfielder Allen Christensen also failed to comeback after missing last weekend’s Hawthorn clash with back soreness.
Photo: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
