Geelong coach Chris Scott doesn't want to rock the boat after Mark Blicavs' impressive ruck performance on Hawthorn's Lloyd Meek.
The Cats are into another AFL Grand Final after a 30-point win over the arch rivals at the MCG on Friday night, but they have some crucial selection decisions to make.
Star defender Tom Stewart will miss the decider after he was concussed in the first term, putting the pre-finals bye on notice as league football boss Greg Swann has indicated it might be placed in between the preliminary and grand finals from next year.
In saying that, Geelong will need to make at least one change, but do they bring in Rhys Stanley?
The veteran ruck has missed the two finals victories due to a hamstring injury, and was considered to take on Meek and the Hawks, but was ultimately left out.
Blicavs shouldered the ruck load with Shannon Neale and Sam De Koning once again, and helped ensure the Cats' dominance through the midfield (50-33 clearances).
"I think I said a couple of weeks ago that if Rhys is fit, we'd play him. There's obviously some nuance there. There's medically available – the way we think about it now, 'could play' is not enough, you have to answer the 'should play' question," Scott said.
"But the fact that [Blicavs has] gone so well leaves him in really good shape for next week. So that's probably a little bit of a pointer to the way I'm thinking, and I'm one of a group (of selectors)."
But the absence of Stewart could mean that the versatile Blicavs plays more in defence to fill the void, opening the door for Stanley to be recalled.
However, it might depend on who they face, with Collingwood and Brisbane set to battle it out for the last spot in next week's grand final.
The Pies and Lions have two genuine ruckmen in their sides (Darcy Cameron/Mason Cox and Darcy Fort/Oscar McInerney), which would lean towards the Stanley recall.
While premiership defender Jed Bews, who was an emergency for the preliminary final and will come into consideration to fill the Stewart hole, has been used to quell the likes of Charlie Cameron and Jamie Elliott in the past.
"[Blicavs in defence] is an option for us. That's part of the planning as well. Even early in the game, you can sit down and go through all the potential scenarios, but you tend not to get down to, 'what if we lose our two most important defenders in the first quarter?'," Scott said.
"That's kind of like, well, okay, all bets are off a bit. I think we've had some questions over the last couple of years about our rucks, and we tend to not talk about the way we sort of think about things too much. Suffice to say, we're pretty comfortable with the way we can manage that sort of ruck-key position issue."
