Shaun Higgins returns from two weeks out with a groin injury, Tim Callan comes in for his first game of the season and Callan Ward has been recalled after a three-week stint with Williamstown in the VFL.
They replace injured trio Robert Murphy (hamstring), Andrejs Everitt (foot) and Dylan Addison (knee).
Football operations manager James Fantasia said Higgins was a certainty to line up against the Cats after being a touch-and-go prospect for the round eight clash with Melbourne.
“He’s had a good week on the track and even the week before, he trained probably 80 per cent. He’s 100 per cent ready to go, which is good,” he said.
The return of Callan, who spent four years on Geelong’s senior list and one year with the Cats’ VFL team, was “good news”, according to Fantasia.
“Tim’s had an interrupted year, but he’s been in good form and he had a really good game in the preliminary final last year against his old club,” he said.
Fantasia said the prospect of matching wits with the Cats had fuelled the players’ enthusiasm at training.
“There’s been a really good focus through the week. They’ve trained well and I think when you’re playing against a team like Geelong, especially in terms of their form, there’s not a bigger challenge. They’re quite genuinely excited about taking them on,” he said.
The return of Geelong’s midfield maestro, Gary Ablett, after two weeks out with a strained adductor muscle added further to the challenge facing the Dogs.
“Maybe the only positive out of that is that he’s probably not at his 100 per cent that he normally is,” Fantasia said.
“He might be slightly shy of a run but we all know what a quality player he is and even if he was two per cent off his game, that still puts him as one of the best players in the competition, if not the best.”
The struggling Demons ran the Bulldogs right to the wire at the MCG last weekend and Fantasia said that game was good preparation for the task of facing one of the league’s benchmark teams.
“Sometimes you’re restricted by your opposition as to exactly what you can do. I thought [Melbourne] did that with us last week and in some ways, it’s a good game to have because we hung tough and that’s what you’re going to have to do against a side like Geelong,” he said.
“In some respects, we could gain something out of it, but at the same time, we need to get our running game going and that will be an emphasis for this week.”
