Midfielder Jordan Cunico will make his senior debut for the Cats on Thursday night against Port Adelaide at Simonds Stadium.

Drafted at pick 59 in the 2014 draft, the 21-year-old has fought injury in his first two seasons with Geelong, but with a month of consistent performances at VFL level in his corner, a single phone call from senior coach Chris Scott has made it all worth the wait. 

“It was a bit different. He [Scott] doesn’t usually call me very often,” Cunico laughed.

It’s obviously been a long wait. I’ve been at the club for two and a half years basically so to play my first game, I’ve been waiting a long time.”

My first year I had knee surgery and in my second year again I had surgery on both of my knees. I’ve spent a fair bit of time in rehab, which can get lonely when you’re by yourself.”

But Scotty told me that I was playing and I was pretty happy about that.”

Following a strong pre-season and an appearance in the Cats’ first JLT Community Series fixture, Cunico thought his injury woes may finally be behind him.

That was until an Achilles issue flared up a week later.

“My body was feeling really good during the pre-season. I think I’d done just about all the pre-season sessions and I was feeling pretty confident about that,” Cunico said.

“I played the first JLT in Tassie and thought I’d played relatively well, but there were a few things I still needed to work on.”

“After that first game, I hurt my Achilles and I didn’t play again for a few weeks. But since then my body has felt good and I’ve been playing consistent footy.”

Cunico’s parents will make the drive from Traralgon to be in the stands of Simonds Stadium as their son runs out for his first senior game with Geelong.

And once he’s out there, the no.31 knows exactly what he’ll need to do. 

“I’ll be playing the majority of my time on the wing and I need to use my speed and try to take the game on.