Only eight Cats have played every game,including just one defender – Zach Guthrie – while Jack Henry (four),Rhys Stanley (four),Cam Guthrie (six),Mitch Duncan (seven),Gary Rohan (eight),Sam De Koning (nine),Tyson Stengle (nine) and Patrick Dangerfield (nine) have appeared fewer than 10 times.
Dangerfield faces more time on the sidelines aftersuffering a partially collapsed lung and cracked rib in his return game last week against Port Adelaide.
After an 0-3 start,Geelong looked back on track when they rattled off five consecutive wins,only to drop four of their past five games and tumble to 10th spot through 14 rounds. They host the Demons at GMHBA Stadium on Thursday night.
“I still think if Geelong can get into the eight and get players back and be fully fit – and that’s a big if – they can run the table from an elimination final,” Mooney toldThe Age.
“Injuries hurt them again after they had that patch of five wins,so maybe it’s going to be one of those years with constant injuries,not being able to play their best team,and they miss out on the eight. It’s so hard in today’s game if you don’t have your full team on the park – it doesn’t matter who you are – but Geelong is the type of team that if they get fit,you wouldn’t want to play them.”
The Cats have already conceded 100-plus points five times from 13 matches this season,after doing so only once last year. The last time they conceded triple figures so regularly was in 2015,when they missed the finals.