BIG CAT DILEMMA: THOMPSON
Mark Heenan 29 March 2006

By Mark Heenan GEELONG CATS COACH MARK 'BOMBER' THOMPSON admits the threat of recalling its biggest names for this weekend’s AFL season opener against the Brisbane Lions, could jeopardise the club’s early season fortunes. The Cats won the NAB Cup a fortnight ago but all that will be forgotten once the siren rings at 2:10PM this Saturday.

The pre-season premiers are undecided whether to risk Steven King (achilles), Brad Ottens (osteitis pubis) and flamboyant forwards Kent Kingsley and Steve Johnson (hamstrings), all making audacious bids for inclusion.

Neither Ottens nor King played a single match during Geelong’s successful NAB Cup campaign, claiming its first piece of silverware in 43 years, but trained strongly at Skilled Stadium on Wednesday.

Saturday’s match against the Brisbane Lions is the first of three successive home games for Geelong at Skilled Stadium, with games to follow against the Kangaroos in round two and Hawthorn in round three.

“The list is probably the strongest it’s been, but that can also be a danger,” Thompson said.

“We’re worried that we play all these guys who are available now for round one but haven’t played any NAB Cup games is a concern that they’re coming in cold.

“We just have to pick our team, which is going to give us the best chance to play as well as we can on Saturday.

“Well (Ottens and King) are both are available, it’s whether we play them both, that’s the quandary we are in really, neither have played a game really, which is a danger.”

Gritty on-baller Cameron Ling will return after bruising his right knee during the club’s pre-season grand final win over Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, two weeks ago.

Talented midfielder James Kelly is still several weeks away as he shrugs off a shoulder complaint, while defender Tom Harley battles to overcome a hip/knee injury and won’t resume until round three.

Thompson not overly concerned with the unavailability of its star players, especially as Brisbane Lions triple premiership player Nigel Lappin is sidelined indefinitely with an ankle injury and doubts over Jonathon Brown’s immediate fitness.

In two of his last three outings against Geelong, 29-year-old Lappin has racked up an impressive 53 disposals and collected two Brownlow medal votes.

“They’ve got a couple out, we’ve got a couple out too, so he (Nigel Lappin) has always played well against Geelong, he is a great player,” he said.

“I know he’s got a pretty significant injury which is quite sad because it’s not the sort of thing you want at the end of your career.”

Geelong has lost nine of their past ten encounters against the Brisbane Lions by an average losing margin of 45 points.

The Cats defeated the Lions in last year’s Skilled Stadium match by 27 points.