AFL journalist Adam McNicol spoke to Cats TV about who could step up to fill the void and which players currently fulfill the role in other ways.
“It’s an interesting forward set up at the moment, Kersten has made a big difference and it really takes another tall defender to man him up, so it creates a really dangerous tall forward set up.
“Interesting that they don’t have a, perhaps, true crumbing forward at the moment, like a Puopolo or maybe like a Luke Breust at Hawthorn,” McNicol said.
With a fierce two-pronged attack and no true ‘crumber’ up front, Geelong call upon members of the midfield group to push forward and hit the scoreboard.
“But, what they do have is guys like Steven Motlop, Jordan Murdoch, Stevie J, (and) Bartel, who all push down and kick goals,” McNicol said.
Between them, Motlop, Murdoch, Johnson and Bartel have kicked 61 goals this season.
“Bartel has spent a bit of time quite close to goal, the other three tend to push forward and kick goals from half forward, so Geelong’s scoring power is not really an issue,” McNicol said.
Beyond the current 22 however, the Cats have an exciting small forward that could fill the void, who has recently been knocking on the door of senior selection.
“They do have Lincoln McCarthy lurking in the two’s, he played a very good game in the VFL team’s last outing.
“So you never know, he could get a call up at some stage,” McNicol said.
McCarthy is a fast and skillful small forward who made his AFL debut in Round 10, 2012 but was forced to the sidelines for the entirety of last season due to a foot injury.
To hear more from Adam McNicol about the Cats' run home, click on the video above.
