Cats face brutal AFL grand final team call

AFL GRAND FINAL day for Geelong will start with a “brutal” selection call, but star forward Steve Johnson is confident he won’t be the victim.

The 2007 Norm Smith Medallist’s knee, injured in last weekend’s preliminary final win over West Coast, has been the key discussion point ahead of Saturday’s decider against Collingwood.

It will remain so until shortly before game time, despite the potential match-winner now more likely than not to play after getting through a fitness test at Skilled Stadium on Friday.

Cats coach Chris Scott said he still needed to see how Johnson pulled up on Saturday before deciding whether to back him in, or call in one of the three emergencies – Shannon Byrnes, Darren Milburn or Cameron Guthrie.

“He moved pretty well. As we’ve said all week, we won’t make the definitive call until tomorrow morning, but the signs are good,” Scott told reporters on Friday.

“We certainly haven’t ruled him out, so that’s promising.”

In contrast, Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse watched key Magpies pair Darren Jolly and Ben Reid prove to his satisfaction on Wednesday that they had overcome groin injuries.

Malthouse, who was “100 per cent” certain the pair were ready, said he had scheduled those tests earlier in the week specifically to avoid the drain on nervous energy created by the type of last-minute selection calls the Cats were making.

In Friday’s closed session at Geelong, television footage taken from helicopters captured Johnson sprinting and changing direction, kicking with both feet and participating in drills with teammates.

Wearing strapping on his left knee, he also stood his ground well in one-on-one marking contests with Cats squad member Taylor Hunt.

Johnson, who used painkillers to get through the session, rated himself a “99 to 100 per cent” chance of playing.

“The decision’s made at the moment that I’ll be playing. The only thing is the unlikely case it blows up on me in the morning,” the skilful forward said while taking part in Friday’s grand final parade.

“I felt good (in the training session). I did have an injection to train – that was always the plan.

“Once that’s worn off and I’ve had a sleep, we’ll see how it pulls up. If it feels as good as it was today, I’ll be right to play.”

But Scott said while Johnson’s own assessment of his recovery was important, ultimately it was not the player’s decision.

“What he says counts, what the medical staff say counts even more, and ultimately what I think counts even more than that,” Scott said.

The first-year coach has already chosen and informed the emergency player who will replace Johnson in the team, if a change is made.

That player’s situation mirrors that which Scott himself faced as a Brisbane player in 2003.

Scott, attempting to return from a groin injury at the time, was the emergency player nominated to replace Nigel Lappin in the Lions’ grand final side, had Lappin been ruled out with broken ribs.

But Lappin played, denying the opportunity to Scott, who had been stripped and ready to play on match day.

“It helps me to have empathy, it doesn’t help him much,” Scott said of the player who would receive the unwelcome selection news on Saturday morning.

“It’s hard, it’s brutal, it really is.”

Malthouse said the Magpies would waste no time trying to guess if Johnson would line up.

“All we know is the last time they played, which was last weekend, he did play and that’s the side we’re looking at.

“We look at their emergencies, slot them in, look at their form and see where they play, what their record’s been and we analyse 25 players.”