Chris Scott hoses down criticism of the Cats heavy training block as Patrick Dangerfield prepares for AFL return

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Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield will make his long-awaited AFL return for Geelong this Saturday.

The Cats star has been out of action since round 10 after injuring his calf on May 21, but the 32-year-olds comeback has been all but confirmed for Saturdays blockbuster against Richmond.

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We think so, Geelong coach Chris Scott told reporters on Wednesday.

Wed like to see this (training) session today especially but our plan has been pretty conservative in terms of the injury management, getting enough work into Patrick which he was denied earlier in the year.

Every indication is that hell be ready to go.

But I must say that over the next whatever it is, eight or nine weeks to finish off the year, that we wont hesitate with any of our players to play it a bit more conservatively if that is what the data is telling us.

Its exciting that it looks as if Dustin Martin is back (for the Tigers) and Patrick Dangerfield is back, I hope they get to play on each other a bit.

Patrick Dangerfield will make his AFL return this SaturdayCredit: Getty

Scott also responded to discussion around the Cats well-documented heavy training load during their bye, saying the commentary around it has been a little overblown.

It hasn’t been a departure from what we have been doing in previous years, he said.

Theres always a balance for us…we certainly wont have any excuses going into this game.

We think our preparation has been good for the longer term for the couple of months to come, but by this week we think were primed to play well.

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The veteran coach also heaped praise on his star key forward Jeremy Cameron, who plays his 200th game at the weekend.

He played such good footy against us (when he played for GWS), Scott said.

It can be a little bit of a trap when you look at opposition players who tend to play well against your team, and you can overrate them a little bit – that certainly hasn’t been the case. But we did hold him in very high regard (when he played against us).

Just little things that continue to shock me. The ability to kick the ball so far around his body is something I’ve never seen before.

Veteran utility Shaun Higgins, who hasn’t been sighted at AFL level since round seven, will play in the VFL this weekend, and will push for AFL selection next week.

– with AAP

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